LSU reaches agreement with 10 women in lawsuit over mishandled sexual harassment cases involving athletes

Ten women have reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit against Louisiana State University, accusing the university of mishandling their sexual misconduct cases, court records show.

In light of the settlement, U.S. District Judge Wendy Vitter closed the case on Thursday, three years after the lawsuit was filed. Vitter had in December denied the university’s motion to dismiss several of the women’s lawsuits.

Details of the agreement are not yet public.

Their lawsuit accused the LSU athletic department of implementing a “deliberately deficient” sexual misconduct reporting system separate from LSU’s Title IX office to keep allegations against athletes in-house, in violation of federal and state laws.

Several women had accused former LSU star running back Derrius Guice of various sexual misconduct, including rape and taking and sharing illegal photos without consent. Former LSU tennis player Jade Lewis said football player Drake Davis physically assaulted her on multiple occasions.

Other women said the school failed to adequately respond to their Title IX complaints against students who do not play sports, in some cases needlessly delaying the investigation process and allowing their alleged perpetrators to remain on campus with little more than a slap on the wrist.

The lawsuit also named former head football coach Ed Orgeron, former athletic director Joe Alleva, former tennis coaches Julia and Michael Sell, and several other LSU athletic and campus officials as defendants; all of these individuals had their cases dismissed in January 2022.

LSU had no immediate comment for this story. Karen Truszkowski, an attorney representing the women, declined to comment.

A 2020 USA TODAY investigation was the first time several plaintiffs spoke publicly about their experiences. The impact of that investigation was swift and far-reaching.

LSU hired outside law firm Husch Blackwell to conduct an independent investigation into its handling of the cases of these women and others. Its scathing report in March 2021 confirmed USA TODAY’s reporting, calling it a “serious institutional failure” caused by campus leadership that never spent enough money, left investigative offices understaffed and ultimately put students at risk by failing to acknowledge the experiences of victims of abuse and trauma.

Then-interim President Thomas Galligan called the report a “brutally honest and objective assessment of our culture” and began implementing more than a dozen of its recommendations. Galligan also suspended without pay two officials named in USA TODAY’s reporting for mishandling complaints against athletes: Deputy Athletic Director Verge Ausberry and Senior Associate Athletic Director Miriam Segar. Both remain employed at LSU today.

The consequences also reached two other universities. F. King Alexander, the president of LSU when many of the cases were mishandled, was forced to resign from his new post as president of Oregon State University.

Former LSU national championship-winning head coach Les Miles was also forced to resign as head coach of the University of Kansas after USA TODAY successfully sued LSU to obtain a copy of a long-sealed investigative report detailing allegations that Miles sexualized the team’s recruiting office and sexually harassed two student assistants.

The Senate Special Committee on Women and Children of the Louisiana Legislature held hearings in the spring of 2021, during which lawmakers sharply criticized LSU officials and heard testimony from several survivors. In the months that followed, several bills were passed aimed at reforming how universities across the state handle complaints of power-based violence, which includes sexual and domestic violence, as well as stalking.

Following widespread media coverage of the LSU scandal, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for enforcing Title IX, also launched an investigation into the university in March 2021 for alleged violations of the law.

However, the Office closed the case in June 2023 on the grounds that it was no longer necessary because a finding of non-compliance with the law would have provided the same relief sought by the lawsuit.

A separate investigation of LSU by the Department of Education for alleged violations of the Clery Act in connection with the women’s allegations continues.

Kenny Jacoby is an investigative reporter for USA TODAY covering sports and sexual misconduct. Contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on X @kennyjacoby.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LSU reaches settlement in lawsuit over improper handling of sexual assault allegations against athletes