The former LSU athletic director recommended in 2013 that Les Miles be fired as the Tigers’ football coach because of his dealings with female student activists, according to a 148-page review of a law firm about how the university sexually abused Has handled complaints.
Former LSU president of the then athletic director Joe Alleva, F. King Alexander’s recommendation is detailed in a report made public on Friday by the Hutch Blackwell law firm. The report presents a frightening view of resources and attention and LSU has devoted such complaints widely to the campus and has also resulted in the suspension of two senior athletic officials.
Executive Deputy Athletics Director Virge Ausberry has been suspended for 30 days and Senior Associate Athletic Director Maryam Segar has been suspended for 21 days. Both were suspended without pay and ordered to undergo sexual violence training.
Miles, now a coach in Kansas, was investigated after two female student activists at LSU’s football program accused the coach of inappropriate behavior.
While a 2013 investigation by the Taylor Porter law firm found that Miles showed poor judgment, it did not find a violation of the law or that he had sex with any of the students. Taylor Porter also concludes that it is a student’s accusation that Miles could not confirm he kissed her while they were in the coach’s car with someone else present.
Alleva recommended to the then LSU president that Miles be removed from the cause. In a June 2013 email, Alleva wrote that Miles was guilty of “insulting, inappropriate behavior, putting the university, athletic department (cq) and football program at great risk.”
Taylor Porter’s review was kept confidential for nearly eight years until a new version of it was released this week following a lawsuit filed by USA Today.
Hired by LSU in 2005 and won the national title in 2007, Miles remained the Tigers’ coach until he was fired during the 2016 season when the Tigers were 2–2.
Miles, 67, has denied allegations in which he has made sexual advances toward students, saying he only wants to work as a mentor for students who have expressed interest in pursuing a career in sports.
Kansas has issued a statement saying it is reviewing recent revelations before taking any action regarding Miles’ position as a coach.
Hush Blackwell’s report, which revisited the Miles investigation, also described how the former coach had tried to sexually abuse student staff at the football program, for example, allegedly demanding Being that he wanted blondes and ‘pretty girls’ with big breasts. ”
Meanwhile, LSU has not removed any current employees whose conduct was criticized in the Hutch Blackwell Report.
Interim President Tom Galligan said during a meeting of the LSU Board of Supervisors in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Friday that he sought to be impartial in issuing discipline. Galligan stressed that the independent report concluded that failure to respond to sexual misconduct complaints at LSU is largely due to unclear policies and a lack of resources for “exaggerated” employees who are tasked with handling such cases.
“People will be unhappy either way,” Galligan said of how the university chooses employees involved in the scandal.
Galligan then read an excerpt from the report, stating that such employees “are not well served by the university’s leadership.”
Attorney Scott Schneider, who spearheaded the Hawke Blackwell review, said that while LSU does not have a monopoly on misusing sexual harassment cases, the university “has been too slow to develop policies and infrastructure and personnel that actually with the federal Were necessary to ensure compliance ”Title IX legislation. Those laws are broadly related to gender equity in education and also apply to cases of sexual violence or harassment in educational institutions.
Schneider found that LSU leadership “responded in a resounding fashion” when officials handling Title IX compliance requested more resources.
“The Title IX office of the university was not properly staffed,” he said. He said, “We are not the first people to take note of this issue and mark the issue to the leadership of the university.” This has been repeatedly addressed to the leadership of the university and appears to have done nothing to measure it up to this point. “
The report noted that LSU’s failure to properly handle sexual harassment complaints was a campus-wide issue, and that the allegations leveled against athletes were not considered any different from those of non-athletes. However, Schneider said that star athletes hold a vested advantage over victims in schools where athletics is given great importance.
Schneider said the victims are “increasingly reluctant to participate in the IX process, because they fear the community.”
Galligan offered a public apology to the victims and said he intends to act on all 18 recommendations in the report to reinforce how the university spreads sexual misconduct complaints on campus. Those recommendations called for everything from clarification of policies and protocols to staffing and departmental reorganization.
LSU hired Hesh Blackwell in November and agreed to pay $ 100,000 for an independent audit of hits dealing with complaints of sexual misconduct after today’s reporting by the USA.
While Davis was suspended and eventually forced to leave the football program, until his then girlfriend was repeatedly attacked. The guitar left LSU in good standing and was drafted in the NFL. Subsequently, he was recently accused by the Washington football team of cheating on his girlfriend.
Guess played for current football coach Ed Orgeron, but Schneider cautioned against blaming coaches for institutional failures in dealing with complaints of sexual misconduct. Schneider recommends that only Title IX officers with expertise in such cases should handle such investigations and the resulting discipline, while coaches should focus on coaching.
“You don’t want to involve coaches,” Schneider said. “What we want is to get athletics out of it completely and allow the Title IX office to investigate it.”
The meeting opened with a statement from former LSU student Caroline Schroeder, who informed the university that she was sexually assaulted by a fraternity member in 2016 and described meeting official opposition as she pursued her complaint Was demanded.
“I want to express how much confidence I have in this board to do the right thing today or in months,” she said, suggesting that LSU has repeatedly demonstrated that it compares to public relations damage control I am more concerned about the incident of assaulting female students. “I really hope that I have just insulted at least some of you, because the inexperienced and fleeting feeling you are feeling at that particular moment is nothing compared to the constant and often debilitating fear. There are no survivors at LSU. The victims are suffering on a daily basis as a direct result of your deliberate indifference to this campus. “
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