Sixteen former University of Michigan hockey players have filed a federal lawsuit alleging they were subjected to ritualized sexualized hazing between 1984 and 2001, with claims that players were stripped naked and had their genitals forcibly shaved, their pubic hair singed with a blowtorch, and razor handles forced into some players' anuses. The lawsuit names the University of Michigan and its Board of Regents as defendants, along with legendary former head coach Red Berenson and former coach Mel Pearson, alleging the two coaches encouraged the abuse.
The suit, filed in federal court in Detroit, was first reported by the Detroit Free Press, whose reporters Dave Boucher and Tony Garcia detailed allegations that older players tied hockey helmets to younger players' genitalia and filled them with pucks, and that participation in the sexualized abuse was described as a mandatory condition of playing hockey for Michigan. The lawsuit states that men as young as 17 were subjected to what it calls ritualized, planned, and sadistic sexualized abuse. The plaintiffs are represented by the law firm Pitt, McGhee, Palmer, Bonanni & Rivers, based in Royal Oak.
According to the same report, the lawsuit alleges that coaches, staff and administrators knew about the abuse, and that the coaching staff concealed it and penalized players who complained. Firm attorney Michael Pitt said, per the Free Press account, that the university received notice of the potential lawsuit more than a year before it was filed and declined meaningful discussions about resolution. Pitt said the plaintiffs want accountability while preserving their privacy — the 16 plaintiffs remain unidentified in the filing.
Former Players Describe Lasting Trauma
The lawsuit describes former players reporting long-term trauma tied to the alleged hazing, with some attributing substance abuse, depression and other mental health problems to their time in the program, the Free Press reported. The former players are seeking an unspecified amount of money from the university, along with mandatory sexualized hazing prevention training for all University of Michigan athletes.
The University of Michigan has said the complaint contains disturbing allegations but that many elements are misleading, and the university denies responsibility or liability for the claims, according to the same report. Athletic director Warde Manuel said student-athletes having a positive and meaningful experience is of paramount importance, the outlet noted. The university also points to its existing requirement that all student-athletes complete annual training on hazing, discrimination and misconduct policies, and notes it adopted an official anti-hazing policy in 1982.
A Program's Storied and Troubled Recent History
Red Berenson served as U-M's head coach for 33 seasons, from 1984 to 2017, amassing 848 victories and two national titles, a run so celebrated that the university's Board of Regents voted to rename the Yost Ice Arena rink in his honor, according to University of Michigan Athletics. Berenson publicly announced an end to freshman hazing in 2012 and said at the time that such hazing amounted to borderline embarrassment or humiliation, per the Free Press report. The program itself holds nine NCAA national championships and is tied for the most NCAA tournament appearances in history, with 42.
Mel Pearson was ousted as head coach in August 2022 after a WilmerHale investigation, initiated following a complaint from former U-M goalie and volunteer director Steven Shields, found cultural issues within the program that warranted attention, as detailed by ClickOnDetroit. Shields' complaint alleged that Pearson and operations director Rick Bancroft mistreated staff and retaliated against those who voiced concerns. Separately, per the WilmerHale report, Pearson also faced allegations of instructing players to lie on COVID-19 tracing forms before the 2021 NCAA tournament and of retaliating against a student-athlete who raised concerns about team culture, and the report found he lied to investigators during the probe. Brandon Naurato, who played for the Wolverines under Berenson from 2005 to 2009, was named head coach in March 2023 and has since led the team to three NCAA Frozen Four appearances in his first four seasons.
Michigan's Costly Reckoning With Athletic Abuse
This is not the first time University of Michigan athletics has confronted allegations of institutional failure around abuse. The university announced a $490 million settlement in 2022 with survivors of former team doctor Robert Anderson's sexual abuse, a case in which Anderson worked at U-M from 1966 to 2003 even though officials had received complaints about his misconduct as early as 1978, according to the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. Of that settlement, $460 million was split among roughly 1,050 existing claimants while $30 million was reserved for future claims, per the University of Michigan. Anderson died in 2008 before facing criminal prosecution. The university also commissioned a separate $12 million review by a private law firm after firing its head football coach, according to the Free Press report.
Legal Hurdles Ahead for a Decades-Old Case
Any case built on conduct alleged to have occurred as far back as 1984 faces real legal obstacles. Under Michigan's civil statute MCL 600.5851b, individuals abused as minors generally have until age 28, or three years after discovering the causal connection to their injury, to file a civil damages claim for criminal sexual conduct, according to the Michigan Legislature, and state civil law lacks a broad retroactive lookback window for older claims. Separately, Michigan's Garret's Law, enacted in 2004, makes hazing at educational institutions a criminal offense regardless of whether the victim consented, with penalties ranging from 93-day misdemeanors up to 15-year felonies if the act results in death — though that statute eliminates consent as a legal defense rather than governing civil filing deadlines.
Because the lawsuit was filed in federal court and raises civil rights claims, the case may also proceed under legal frameworks distinct from Michigan's own hazing statute. In federal civil rights litigation under Title IX and Section 1983 involving public institutions, federal courts generally borrow the state's general personal injury statute of limitations rather than administrative filing deadlines, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and Title IX private rights of action against universities require proving deliberate indifference. How those standards apply to conduct alleged in the 1980s and 1990s remains to be argued out in court.
