Commentary: When I read about the allegations of sexual violence in the Northwestern University football program, I was horrified. But I wasn’t surprised. As a cheerleader, I, too, was a victim of sexual abuse and school officials did nothing to stop it.
Students, faculty and others march toward the Northwestern University president's home on May 7, 2021, to protest the hiring of Mike Polisky as the school's new athletic director in 2021. Polisky was one of four defendants along with the university in an ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit filed in January 2021.
From 2018 to 2019, I was groped by drunken fans and alumni in public at football games. At university donor events, older men touched me inappropriately, picked me up without my consent and made sexual remarks about my appearance. And when I complained about the harassment to my head coach — who required me to “mingle” with donors for the school’s financial benefit — she did absolutely nothing., I was not shocked in the least that these activities allegedly were permitted.
It is impossible to believe that in the case of Northwestern football, from 2006 to 2023, their leader “knew nothing.” These men worshipped head coach Pat Fitzgerald. I am shocked that 250-pound men could be so quiet during these activities that he never heard a peep.
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