BATON ROUGE–Two LSU Athletics employees were suspended without pay after a law firm’s report into LSU’s alleged mishandling of sexual assault complaints was released Friday.
Scott Schneider, a representative from the law firm, Husch Blackwell, presented the investigation to the LSU Board of Supervisors.
Schneider said the university was understaffed and unequipped to handle complaints under Title IX, a federal law meant to reduce sexual harassment and assault on college campuses. The law firm’s 150-page report outlined summaries of the cases that it investigated, current Title IX policies at LSU and recommendations for changes.
“This is an example of serious institutional failure,” LSU Interim President Thomas Galligan said.
Galligan said the university had suspended Executive Deputy Athletic Director Verge Ausberry for 30 days without pay and Senior Associate Athletic Director Miriam Segar for 21 days without pay. Both employees will undergo sexual violence training during this time.
“We’ve been forced to take a hard look, and let’s be perfectly clear, we don’t like what we see,” Galligan said.
A USA Today report in November found that Ausberry knew in 2018 that former LSU football player Drake Davis had punched former LSU women’s tennis player Jade Lewis. Lewis’s case of sexual violence is outlined in the report.
According to WBRZ reporter Michael Cauble, Ausberry told him his entire career “has been dedicated to LSU,” and he regrets that his…
