Lawsuit blames sorority in Northwestern athlete's death

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CHICAGO – The mother of a player on the Northwestern University women’s basketball team who died in 2017 has sued a sorority claiming hazing by its members led to her daughter’s suicide.

Felicia Hankins says the hazing of Jordan Hankins by members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority caused severe anxiety and depression and led to her death in January 2017.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago also names the Gamma Chi undergraduate chapter of the sorority at Northwestern, the Delta Chi Omega graduate chapter of the sorority and sorority executives.

The lawsuit contends Jordan Hankins was “subjected to physical abuse including paddling, verbal abuse, mental abuse, financial exploitation, sleep deprivation, items being thrown and dumped on her, and other forms of hazing intended to humiliate and demean her.”

Officials with Chicago-based Alpha Kappa Alpha couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

Hankins was recruited out of Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis.

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