Chicago media cite Allan in news about Northwestern football hazing allegations
University of Maine professor of higher education Elizabeth Allan was interviewed by Chicago news outlets covering reports of hazing in the Northwestern University football program. “One thing we’ve found that continues to emerge in study after study that we do is that there’s a real disconnect between students’ experiences of hazing and their willingness to label it as hazing,” Allan said to Chicago Tribune. The newspaper cited the 2008 National Study of Student Hazing, led by Allan and fellow UMaine researcher Mary Madden, which was the first large-scale attempt to document hazing on college campuses across the U.S. Allan was also interviewed by CBS 2 Chicago about an Illinois lawmaker’s plan to introduce legislation creating a College Athlete Bill of Rights. The proposal would establish an ombudsman where student athletes could report hazing incidents without fear of retribution. “There is such a fear of coming forward,” Allan said. She added that higher education institutions and policymakers “also need to look at shifting the culture to support the likelihood that those laws and policies will be used.”