An LSU football player, who was suspended for one year after a Title IX violation, has filed a complaint against the university. The unnamed player claims LSU made an “unjust and discriminatory decision… following a biased, flawed, confusing and unlawful process.”
The incident leading to the suspension, which occurred in May, involved nonconsensual sexual intercourse between the player and a female LSU student.
The player alleged that he met the student at a bar near campus. He then asked the female student if she wanted to have sex and she agreed. Afterward, he accompanied her to her dorm, where the two parted ways, according to the complaint.
The plaintiff claims he was not afforded an opportunity to have a hearing or review evidence against him. He further alleges that Jeffrey Scott, LSU’s lead Title IX investigator, failed to inform the player that both the university and Baton Rouge police departments had subsequently closed their investigations.
“LSU has a very confusing policy where you have to jump through a number of hoops before you’re even allowed for a hearing,” said Susan Stone, one of the attorneys representing the suspended player, told the media. “If they find you responsible, then you get an appeal process, and only then, when two, three different layers find you responsible, do you have a hearing. So, you are already stigmatized as being responsible before you have had an opportunity to confront or cross-examine your accuser. How is that fair?”
Another one of his attorneys told the media that the plaintiff “made an extensive and earnest effort to try to avoid having to file a lawsuit. However, LSU gave us no choice by denying the process that was due to our client and demonstrating an unwillingness to reach any sort of mutually agreeable path forward,” said attorney Kristina Supler. “LSU had a variety of sanctions that could have been identified. Without affording the full process allowed for our client to say, ‘I didn’t do this,’ the sanction was imposed to suspend him for a year.
“It is a very, very harsh sanction, with not only academic implications, but also the impact on a promising athletic career as well,” she added.
