ANJALI DALAL-WHELAN / NEWS EDITOR

On Aug. 18, before  the 2023-2024 academic year began, half of the USD football team was disciplined for hazing. 

Throughout the year, more information has come to light on the specifics of the hazing incidents, covered in a prior  article of  The USD  Vista.  

Two civil lawsuits remain pending against USD for the football team’s alleged hazing. 

As reported by The USD Vista, on Oct. 23, former quarterback AJ Perez filed a lawsuit against USD. On Dec. 7, a second former player, Kollen Murphy, filed a lawsuit against USD with similar allegations. Both individuals say they left USD and the football team this year because of hazing. 

The former players are both represented by the attorney Scott Carr. 

The lawsuits are still in the early phases, but according to the County of San Diego’s register of actions website, both have a scheduled Civil Case  Management Conference (CMC) for this summer. A CMC is when both sides and their lawyers meet with the judge to discuss how to handle the case. Perez’s   CMC   is scheduled for June 28, while Murphy’s CMC will take place on July 12. 

After the hazing was reported, USD took internal action after the allegations. 

In September, President Harris emailed the USD community with information about the internal investigation. 

“We have launched an independent  inquiry to determine if there were violations of   the student code of conduct or infringements upon   the  individual  rights of any  member of our student body,” the email from Harris stated. 

 According    to  USD  football coach Brandon Moore in an interview with The USD Vista last week, the investigation has officially concluded.   In his interview, Moore commented on the     investigation   and      legal    issues. 

“I think the investigation has concluded at this point, there [are] still a bunch of legal things out there. There’s a lot of litigation going on at this point,” Moore stated. 

Moore also discussed how the allegations   affected       USD’s   football      recruitment       for  next   year. 

“We were completely transparent  about it, I   told every audience that we   had, any time we   had  recruiting  weekends, any time we  had  recruits on campus or potential student-athletes on campus we were transparent about it,” Moore said. “[I told them] these things happen, we don’t agree with them,   they      were bad and it’s in no   way        indicative of the future of this program.”

Despite the allegations, USD football recruited 32 first-years and 15 transfers to play for the Toreros next year, according to Moore.    In  2022,   USD  recruited 33 new players  including  transfers.  None of the new  players who were contacted by The USD Vista responded to questions on how the hazing allegations affected their  decision to join the team. 

This academic year, during Coach Moore’s first season,  hazing allegations came out against his team. Emma-Kate Squires/The USD Vista