The revelation this week of a six-month-long investigation at Northwestern University into allegations of hazing and sexual abuse within the football program is troubling and sadly not a surprise. The dynamics of this type of aggression and hazing veiled as “tradition” has been prevalent in sports programs for many years and persists despite growing public awareness and pressure to end it. Despite this advocacy, these practices survive because the pressure to win at all costs for sports programs is greater than their attention to the student-athletes’ wellbeing.

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A year ago on the Fourth of July, like many of us, I was happily sitting at a parade in my hometown of Highland Park, Illinois with my family, including two of my young sons, watching the procession begin. What I thought was fireworks turned out to be a maelstrom of bullets from an AR-15 assault weapon, fired by a 21-year-old on a rooftop above. I was shot twice. The bullets ripped through my skin, and I could feel them burning. I was fortunate to survive one of the worst shootings in Illinois history — but seven others lost their lives.

A year has passed — and I still think about the shooting ...