For those who don’t know, Benjamin Crump, the famed civil rights attorney representing numerous former Northwestern players in a potential suit against the University is frequently dubbed “Black America’s Attorney General.”
From representing the families of George Floyd, Michael Brown and Breonna Taylor to one of his most recent suits, representing the estate of Malcolm X against entities like the FBI and CIA, Crump’s legal strategies are grounded in his belief that America has a two-tiered justice system.
Crump’s cases encompass more than just a quick route to settlement. They become a platform for his personal mission, to advance civil rights in general, but more specifically to guarantee equal treatment for Black Americans. His personal inspiration is Thurgood Marshall, who became the first Black member of the U.S. Supreme Court when Crump was a young boy.
So when Crump vows to not only take on Northwestern, but promises more suits, more plaintiffs and more universities, you can be sure he is gearing up to try to change a system. His press release alleges racial bias and racial discrimination at Northwestern, claiming Black players were pressured to cut their hair to fit in with the “Wildcat way,” and accusations that at least one coach tossed around racial remarks.
It’s no surprise that Crump is confidently teasing his battle plan, after the University of Iowa recently settled a different racial discrimination suit brought by a group of former football players for millions of dollars. The facts in the case presented similar allegations, that Black football players were demeaned with racial slurs and forced to change their hairstyles and fashion to fit the “Iowa Way.”
An uphill battle to rein in hazing at Northwestern, other schools
Crump is no stranger to the racial controversies surrounding college programs. In fact, as a civil rights activist, he is steeped on the cutting edge of a collective effort by organizations he works closely with, to make college a place where Black Americans can succeed on the same footing as their peers. In 2020, Historically Black Colleges and Universities sued the NCAA, claiming its academic performance program unfairly disadvantaged Black student-athletes.
Crump’s promise: a reckoning of an allegedly verbally, emotionally and physically abusive culture in NCAA athletic programs across the country that provide opportunities to a large number of Black athletes. The chance to get an education and excel at a sport that can propel you to a professional level and change your life, has allegedly been riddled with team-condoned abusive exploits that place more hurdles in the way of those opportunities for success. Crump has apparently had enough.
But the civil rights maverick faces a steep uphill climb against hazing traditions that not only date back decades but have permeated athletic programs at shockingly alarming rates for the past thirty years, at least.
Look no further than an article from CNN published in 1999, stating that 80% of college athletes face hazing, including kidnappings, beatings and alcohol abuse. Hazing in NCAA programs is as common as in fraternities and sororities, the article concludes.
Over the years, the number of lawsuits and controversies surrounding hazing on college campuses has been numerous. While many public universities have legal immunity from suits or try to pass the buck for hazing over to independent organizations like sororities or fraternities, Northwestern, a private institution, directly overseeing and controlling its athletic program presents a novel opportunity to make a statement.
The high-profile nature of the allegations, uncovered by a group of muckraking journalists from the school newspaper, also provide Crump with a platform to field calls from former athletes who want to opt-in to a lawsuit that could change the culture of college athletics. This is what Crump is promising, and with his track record, he could potentially deliver.
The legal possibilities run the gamut, from former players potentially filing police complaints to spark criminal investigations to civil suits against universities, coaches and possibly even the NCAA. Hazing laws exist at the state level and at the university level. While they vary state to state, in Illinois hazing is outlawed across numerous categories, including hazing that involves verbal, sexual, physical and even emotional abuse.
Potential charges associated with hazing
Harassment hazing is a misdemeanor, as is any form of intimidation, coercion or threats to people who want to join a group or institution in the context of education. Hazing rises to the level of a felony if someone in the state is physically injured or dies as a result of the prohibited conduct.
Northwestern also has its own policy outlawing hazing and it can and will be argued that the creation of this policy puts an affirmative duty on the University, its administration and its coaches to not only supervise the athletic programs but to take action if they know hazing is going on.
Hazing is a unique legal category where even bystanders can be liable for failing to act, under the right circumstances. The University’s own investigation alleges that there were opportunities to discover the long-running hazing traditions and someone should have known it was going on. This report, and the University policy, will undoubtedly be used by Crump and his team to assert a civil case for negligence against those people who had a special relationship with the players and arguably a duty to protect them, such as coaches, administrators and possibly even the NCAA.
As the governing body of college athletics, the NCAA may become a central focus of a lawsuit that spans across university campuses. The idea that in 1999 hazing was just as pervasive as it is presumed to be now, could mean that the NCAA has allegedly failed to stop a practice that creates a danger to the lives of college athletes.
Civil rights claims may be harder to establish, especially at institutions that don’t receive large swaths of public funding. However, it may still be possible to assert claims that the NCAA or specific college athletic programs discriminate against college athletes on the basis of race by failing to provide safe and fair athletic programs and paths to education, especially when they recruit athletes while they are minors. These athletes and their parents rely on the promises made to them by the coaches and the universities that recruit them.
At the criminal level, absent statutes of limitations that could bar claims, we may see efforts to hold those responsible for abusing athletes, even if it’s misdemeanor charges alone.
At the civil level, Crump can also pile on claims for assault, battery, emotional distress and any other forms of abuse that may have occurred.
And, of course, whenever there is a big lawsuit with dozens of people coming forward on a topic of national concern, the U.S. Attorney General or multiple attorney generals will likely take notice and may want to initiate their own investigations into the possible culpability of the governing institution (the NCAA). This could happen in the same vein as the attorney general investigations of the NFL for allegedly fostering a culture where sexual harassment of women, hostile workplaces and racial discrimination has been alleged to have occured.
The playbook is broad and the legal strategies are numerous for a creative attorney with a national platform, like Crump et. al. And, while it would behoove Northwestern to settle quickly, rather than battle lawsuits on dual fronts — with its players and its former fired coach — money alone may not satisfy the thirst of the attorney presently steering this ship.
Amy Dash is a Legal Analyst for Sportsnaut. Follow her on Twitter.