BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU is releasing the findings of the report of the sexual and domestic allegation.
A critical report for LSU but, it does shine a light on the areas where the University needs to improve.
During the meeting, the Board of Supervisors said they plan on taking action to fix the problems with the system. The report is a collective 148 pages of hundreds of hours of interviews and what experts are calling, “a brutally honest and objective evaluation of the culture” and situations on LSU’s campus. Watch the full meeting here.
For months, an independent firm has been looking into the matter, that firm being Husch Blackwell.
The team outlines that the University mishandled situations and how they were not equipped to handle them either.
“1 in 4 students suffer from some sort of sexual assault or domestic violence,” said Scott Schneider the lead on the report. He continued to say that LSU is certainly no exception. Schneider works for Husch Blackwell.
The first thing Schneider spoke about was the issue that LSU’s Title IX office has been extremely understaffed and with little-to-no resources.
Next, he outlined the policies on campus for mandatory addressing of claims or allegation of sexual assault or violence. Schneider says the policies are unclear and were not followed through.
Another big finding was that it appeared that athletes have more benefits and in situations of sexual assault and domestic violence with a victim and an athlete, victims were fearful about coming forward.
As a result of the report, the Board of Supervisors announced several suspensions of personnel.
“This is an example of serious institutional failure but people also made mistakes we cannot ignore. That cannot and must not go unaddressed. With the information contained in the report we are in a better position to assess all of the facts and undertake a more targeted review of individual actions. Thus we are imposing a 30 day suspension without pay for Verge Ausberry during which time Mr. Ausberry should undergo required domestic and sexual violence training. We’re also imposing a 21 day suspension without pay for Miriam Segar who will also undergo required domestic and sexual violence training. In closing let me be clear change will happen I want promised the LSU community that our eyes are open and it has strengthened our resolve to do what it takes to make LSU a safer and more welcoming place for everyone.”
Husch Blackwell firm gave the Board of Supervisors 18 recommendations of how the University of Louisiana can do better and fix the system.
