Editorial:
Lake Zurich hazing: When adults look the other way
The reports have been
largely redacted. The school inquiries have concluded. Two athletic officials at
Lake Zurich High School have resigned, with a third expected to leave at the end
of the school year.
But that's not the
end to hazing allegations that arose a few months ago. An attorney for two
alleged victims says the hazing involved sexual assault and acts of degradation
involving football players. Parents of alleged victims filed a federal lawsuit
Wednesday against the district, claiming school officials knew, or should have
known, about locker room rituals that had been going on for years and were
dismissed as tradition. Horseplay. Team bonding. Boys will be
boys.
Uh, no. The alleged
hazing — described in the lawsuit somewhat vaguely with portions redacted to
protect identities — involves the football team engaging in acts of nudity and
assault. The plaintiffs' attorney, Antonio Romanucci, says the behavior and
culture dates back decades, though this case centers on two incidents last
fall.
A security guard
working for the district told investigators he heard music and chanting in the
school locker room one weekday evening and interrupted an act he later described
as "wrong." From the reports, he walked out but notified a team official
later.
Another incident
earlier in the school year had been brought to school officials' attention and
involved forced nudity and urination, according to the
lawsuit.
When administrators
learned about the second incident, they sent a note to football parents
describing the behavior as "egregious" and took steps to provide players with
hazing education. They made the players perform community service work. Two
athletic officials were placed on administrative leave and later resigned.
Ex-head coach David Proffitt, who also was a physical education teacher, and
assistant coach Chad Beaver, who also was a student dean, resigned with
severance packages. Proffitt will receive $25,516 and Beaver will receive
$12,146, documents show. Athletic director Rolando Vazquez has submitted a
resignation effective at the end of the school year.
Lake
Zurich police and the Lake County state's attorney's
office opened investigations. No charges were brought. But Romanucci said the
hazing involved forcing younger teammates to undress and undergo nonconsensual
sexual acts. In prior years, according to the lawsuit, players urinated on other
players, forced them to perform oral sex and shoved genitals in their
faces.
These allegations are
astounding, as is the charge that school officials did not address the
accusations with the seriousness warranted. With the two incidents described in
the lawsuit, the team was forced to do community service and learn about the
dangers of hazing. Yet the alleged offenders got to keep playing
football.
Kids often partake in
hazing incidents because they're kids. They do stupid things. They suffer from
group-think. They're under pressure to go along. It's up to the adults to draw a
bright line that kids know is not to be crossed.
But where were the
adults at Lake Zurich? Did no school officials or coaches realize what was going
on? Did no parents question why their sons were in the school locker room on
Thursday nights before game days, unsupervised?
This
case should be another alarm bell to school officials, coaches and parents everywhere.
Hazing is not cool or funny or playful. It's dangerous. It's humiliating. It's
illegal.
Why it persists,
often without serious punishment, boggles the mind. It ought to be met with zero
tolerance.
At Glenbrook North
High School in 2003, 33 seniors were expelled for throwing pig intestines, feces
and chemicals onto younger classmates as a form of initiation. A year later at
Glenbrook South, lacrosse players were suspended and the season canceled after
they were accused of smacking younger players' behinds with wooden
paddles.
A year later, Loyola
Academy lacrosse players were accused of hazing students in an alcohol-related
incident. Two players were forced out of the private Wilmette high school, and
several others were suspended and dropped from the team.
In Maine Township
High School District 207, a soccer coach was fired following a 2012 incident
during which players allegedly poked younger players with fingers and sticks in
their private parts.
It's so tragically
unnecessary. What will motivate school officials to take swift and decisive
action? Protecting kids is their job.
For that matter, when
will all adults learn to take it seriously?
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