Louisiana State University officials received scathing criticism from state lawmakers and advocacy groups after the release of a law firm’s detailed report on the university system’s failures to respond to sexual misconduct reports in recent years.
The Senate Select Committee on Women and Children earlier this month heard testimony and reactions to the March 3 report by Husch Blackwell, which was hired to provide an independent review of sexual misconduct allegations contained in a November 2020 USA Today article. The article detailed sexual misconduct complaints leveled by multiple students against athletes.
“The University did not handle various items identified in the USA Today article in a manner consistent with obligations under Title IX, widely recognized best practices and/or University policy,” the report states.
In addition, the report concluded that incidents involving misconduct related to athletics were not property conveyed to the school’s Title IX coordinator. And LSU’s Title IX Office has never been adequately staffed or given the resources it needs to carry out its requirements, the law firm’s report said.
Lawmakers and others seemed particularly concerned about the punishment meted out in response to the investigation. LSU President Tom Galligan suspended two athletics officials for 30 days or less, but no one was fired for failures in handling complaints of sexual harassment or abuse.
“It is the duty of our universities in Louisiana to ensure that they have the adequate staffing and internal structure to appropriately respond to reports of sexual misconduct,” Racheal Hebert, the president and CEO of Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response (STAR), said in an email to the Louisiana Record.
Hebert said the sexual harassment reporting problems identified at LSU are not confined to that higher education system.
“What we have seen is that Title IX offices in universities across the state are understaffed,” she said. “We also see that the minimum Title IX training requirements for faculty and staff on campuses as required by federal law is just simply not enough.”
STAR, a nonprofit group based in Alexandria, provides support to survivors of sexual abuse. It also advocates for social changes to improve responses to sexual trauma.
More training and resources to deal with the problems at LSU are needed, according to Hebert.
“I would like to see lawmakers set firmer expectations for how universities are staffing their Title IX offices and provide resources so that universities are able to expand training to include more than just training on compliance,” she said. “They must ensure positive and safe cultures on campuses.”