A former University of Virginia football player is suing the school after claiming that teammates bullied and mocked him over a learning disability and forced him into a hazing ritual this summer that left him with a broken eye socket.
The federal civil rights lawsuit, filed Friday by Aidan Howard in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania, alleged that the university "fostered a culture of bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination." Howard, a freshman wide receiver, claimed he witnessed other football players coerce first-year teammates into "conduct which imitated and mimicked sexual acts," and that players were forced to participate in fights and wrestling matches while naked or partially naked, "an act referred to at UVA as 'ramming.