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Over the weekend, a
report highlighted hazing issues at Northwestern involving the
football team leading the head coach to be fired. The
allegations have led to a response from lawmakers.
"This is not something that should be taken
lightly, and I know that Northwestern is not taking this
lightly," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during an unrelated news
conference Monday. "In the end, we have got to hold people
accountable."
State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, a former collegiate football
player at the University of Illinois, said he is seeking to
introduce a "Bill of Rights" for college athletics.
"These are very disturbing allegations. There are still, I
think, more questions than answers for folks," Buckner said.
"Even before these allegations came to fore, there has been some
work to try and create a student athletes bill of rights in
Illinois."
Buckner said the idea is to outlaw activities like what's being
reported out of Northwestern and other situations like it. The
existing proposal supports gender equity and other
education-related efforts, but Buckner said he would look to
change the measure to include more protections.
"The legislation that we're working on now does a lot for gender
equity and education benefits, but after what we heard this
weekend regarding these allegations, I wanted to pause what we
were doing and come back and see if there is anything we can add
to protect these student athletes," Buckner said.
The Chicago Democrat said he looks to further discuss the issue
ahead of fall legislative session. |
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