Sixteen former University of Michigan hockey players have filed a lawsuit against the university claiming the Ann Arbor school’s hockey program adopted sexualized abuse as part of its standard hazing traditions.
The lawsuit covers the years 1984 to 2001.
The complaint filed in federal court alleges the hazing included forced shaving of genitals, tying men’s testicles to hockey helmets or buckets weighted with hockey
pucks, simulated sex acts, threatened outright sexual assault, and in some cases, anal penetration.
Some of the victims of the alleged abuse were as young as 17 years old according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges longtime head coach Red Berenson not only knew about the sexualized hazing, but also directed and facilitated it for years. Berenson is a legend in college hockey, with the 4th most wins in NCAA history and two national championships.
He is in both the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Berenson acknowledged hazing in the hockey program in 2012.
The complaint filed in federal court in Detroit states:
“Coaching staff, many of whom were former players, knew of the abuse and took no action to stop it. Some coaching staff stopped by each year to observe the shaving and genital tying ritual. When one player reported the abuse and sought help from then-Assistant Coach Mel Pearson, Pearson replied, “keep your head down, don’t piss them off, and just get through it.”
Pearson served as Assistant Coach from 1988-2011 and then Head Coach from 2017 to 2022.
The suit is seeking unspecified damages against the Regents of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan, for Sex and Gender Discrimination in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which prohibits sex discrimination in education, including discrimination in the form of sexual hazing.
In a statement, a university spokesperson described the allegations in the complaint as “disturbing," but said "many elements of the complaint are misleading.”
"The university denies that it is any way responsible or liable for the claims alleged," the statement continued.
The University of Michigan has had an anti-hazing policy since 1982.
Editor's note: U of M holds Michigan Public's broadcast license.
