Mike Polisky, Northwestern’s new athletic director For years, cheerleaders at Northwestern University have complained that they’ve been paraded as sex objects to entertain wealthy donors and forced to suppress their racial identities to fit a certain mold. On Friday, a crowd of faculty and student supporters marched to the home of the university’s president, Morton O. Schapiro to protest the decision to promote an athletics official who they say played down the cheerleaders’ grievances. Protest organizers say hundreds turned out for the event. At issue was the hiring of Mike Polisky as the university’s new athletic director. Polisky is one of four Northwestern employees who, along with the university, was sued in January by Hayden Richardson, a senior and member of the cheer team. The federal lawsuit alleges that the university failed to adequately respond after Richardson complained about being groped by drunken fans and alumni at tailgates and fund-raising events. The head cheer coach, Pamela Bonnevier, expected cheerleaders to mingle with powerful donors, the lawsuit states, and it became clear to Richardson “that the cheerleaders were being presented as sex objects to titillate the men that funded the majority of Northwestern’s athletics programs.” Richardson said Polisky minimized her concerns and accused her of fabricating evidence of mistreatment.