By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
As Baylor students reconvene in classrooms across campus, the quintessential “What did you do over the summer?” question has probably come up 100 times already. While sitting on a beach in a foreign country is a pretty tough vacation to top, some students around the country continued to embrace the grind well beyond their final exams.
Such is the case for a team of student journalists at the Daily Northwestern, a student-run newspaper that covers all things Northwestern University. Over the summer break, some Daily Northwestern reporters uncovered years of hazing allegations regarding the university’s football program and head coach.
This stunning revelation proved yet again that student journalists have an important voice that should be taken seriously. Look, I get it. It’s “cool” to make fun of the Lariat for whatever trendy reason Yik Yak feeds you, but this summer showed the boundless potential for a voice such as a student newspaper. Before scoffing at the Lariat and disregarding its publications, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s some serious weight to what can and will come out on behalf of the staff.
When Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern’s head football coach, was suspended for two weeks in early July, there was a brief news release on the matter. It noted that there was an investigation finding evidence to support a claim regarding hazing within the football program, but that was about it.
Most media outlets paid little mind to the situation, as the dust could’ve settled completely on the entire matter if given enough time. But the Daily Northwestern felt there was more to the story. With a little bit of investigative reporting, a team of student journalists who were on summer break wound up breaking one of the biggest stories of the college football offseason.
Northwestern’s administration sent out the initial release July 8, and the Daily Northwestern broke the details of the hazing allegations in full, with a dazzling 1,600-word article that fleshes out everything you need to know about what was going on behind the scenes. By the time July 10 rolled around, Fitzgerald and the Northwestern football program were included in national headlines and displayed on TVs across the country.
With evidence publicized, Northwestern fired Fitzgerald and began its search for a new head coach just two months before the 2023 season. Fitzgerald helmed the Wildcats for 17 years and was even a linebacker on the team from 1993 to 1996. Northwestern was left with no choice but to fire its revered leader, largely due to the
Daily Northwestern.
There’s a real possibility that Fitzgerald would still be employed as the head football coach at Northwestern had it not been for the brave souls of the Daily Northwestern. It’s also worth noting that the Daily Northwestern is not affiliated with or funded by the university, so the newspaper received no pushback from the institution while it reported on the matter.
The student journalists stayed engaged all summer long and continued to follow the story, doing so to this day. It’s been a hectic but impressive run for these part-student, part-workers, and it serves as a reminder to take all reporters seriously.
It shouldn’t take a national story such as this to spark a call to action to respect student journalists, but let this be an opportunity to spread awareness that student newspapers should never be taken for granted.
