Former Michigan hockey players allege coach ignored decades-old sexual hazing

Sixteen men who played for the University of Michigan's men's ice hockey team between 1984 and 2001 have filed a sex discrimination lawsuit in federal court in Detroit, alleging that hazing within the program involved severe and systematic sexual abuse.

Allegations in the filing

According to attorney Michael Pitt, who filed the 72-page complaint, the abuse was ritualized, carefully planned and required of anyone wishing to remain on the team. Among the acts described are teammates forcibly shaving other players' genital hair, along with being made to drink excessive amounts of alcohol and eat live fish. One plaintiff, identified in the suit as John Doe 7, says he was taunted with a blowtorch while lying on a table.

The coach's alleged awareness

The lawsuit states that Red Berenson, who coached the team from 1984 to 2017, knew about the abuse and failed to intervene. One plaintiff says he told Berenson he did not want to take part in the hazing, but the coach pressured him to participate, urging him to be a "Michigan man" and a good teammate. Berenson, now 86, declined to comment when contacted, but has said elsewhere that there was some degree of initiation carried out by senior players, though no one had complained to him about it directly. In 2012, Berenson announced an end to hazing of freshmen, referring mainly to first-year players being made to carry equipment and eat last, while acknowledging that some captains had gone too far, without addressing claims of physical or sexual abuse.

University's response

University spokesperson Paul Corliss said in a statement that the allegations are disturbing, but that if any former athletes engaged in such conduct, they violated university policy, and the institution denies responsibility. The university may argue the plaintiffs waited too long to sue, a defense it previously raised in 2020 when former athletes brought claims over decades-old sexual abuse by a campus sports doctor. That case ended with the university agreeing to pay $490m to settle claims from more than 1,000 people.