LSU on April 2 agreed to pay $1.9 million to settle a major lawsuit brought by 10 former LSU students over the university’s handling of potential Title IX violations.
The lawsuit was filed in 2021 and alleged that LSU failed to investigate numerous cases of sexual misconduct, discrimination and domestic violence.
One high-profile aspect of the case surrounds former football player Derrius Guice. Abby Owens, one of the plaintiffs, said Guice raped her; another, Calise Richardson said he attempted to rape her. Samantha Brennan said Guice took a nude photo of her without her consent and then distributed it to members of the football team.
READ MORE: April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month: Here’s how LSU and Baton Rouge are recognizing it
All said that when brought to LSU, their cases were not properly investigated.
Later in his career, Guice was arrested on domestic violence charges, which ended in a settlement, and dropped by the NFL.
Another plaintiff was Kennan Johnson, who said she experienced anti-LGBTQ discrimination and verbal abuse from coaches Julia and Michael Sell. And another tennis player, Jade Lewis, experienced dating violence while at LSU. They, too, said their reports weren’t addressed properly by the university.
Lewis was in a relationship with former LSU football player Drake Davis from 2017-2018. Her father and teammates reported that Davis would repeatedly abuse her; they said that when they reported this to LSU, nothing was done.
LSU was eventually sanctioned $30,000 after being told to release the tennis coaches’ phones, which, upon review, were wiped clean.
As time continued, a pattern of LSU’s dismissal and avoidance began to take shape. An article from USA Today found that, in three separate cases, “rather than expelling or suspending male students found responsible for sexual assault, LSU allowed them to stay on campus.” In some cases, the university allowed the men to stay in the same class as their victims.
USA Today also reported that multiple LSU officials knew what was happening and willfully ignored the accusations or swept them under the rug. The reporting also found that “at least nine LSU football players have been reported to police for sexual misconduct and dating violence since coach Ed Orgeron took over the team.”
To investigate the allegations, LSU hired the law firm Husch Blackwell to look into its handling of Title IX cases. The firm released its report in 2021, and found that LSU’s athletic department continuously decided not to alert the police or the Title IX Office of reports of sexual misconduct.
All of the women in the lawsuit said that in every single case, LSU failed to appropriately address the situations and protect their students. LSU’s Title IX policy states it will protect people suffering from discrimination based on sex, which includes domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and more.
LSU’s Title IX Office also has a mandatory reporting policy for almost all LSU employees. The policy states that if a person sees or is told misconduct in any form has happened, they should immediately inform the Title IX Office and possibly the police.
LSU has denied any wrongdoing, stating that the plaintiffs’ problems were not LSU’s responsibility and that their behavior off-campus did not pertain to them. The settlement said the money should “not be construed as evidence or an admission of any liability, unlawful conduct, or other wrongdoing.”
Attached to the settlement is also a gag order stating neither party will talk about or respond to anything about the agreement.
“The Court has been advised that the parties in this matter have settled all of their claims and have agreed to amicably resolve this dispute,” the presiding judge wrote in the dismissal.
A previous version of this article mischaracterized complainants’ experiences with LSU officials upon notifying them of their claims. We regret this error.
