Gov. John Bel Edwards, former LSU President F. King Alexander and legislators all addressed the Husch Blackwell investigation into LSU’s mishandling of sexual assault reports on campus in the days following the report’s release Friday.

In a Louisiana Select Committee on Women and Children meeting, legislators heard testimonies from survivors, current students, a representative from Husch Blackwell and Interim President Thomas Galligan regarding the Husch Blackwell investigation. The investigation was released Friday and detailed instances of mishandling of sexual assault reports by the University.

Rep. Paula Davis, an LSU alumna, said she is “disheartened.”

“I’m dumbfounded. I’m sad. I’m disgusted,” Davis said. “I’m so disappointed in LSU. My heart is beating really quickly and I’m shaking, because it’s just not enough.”

Sen. Karen Carter Peterson said that there was no culture of punishment at LSU at the time of the sexual assault reports and the Title IX policies were unclear. 

“The message from the top was that it was okay not to tell the truth,” Peterson said. “The entire system, academic and athletic, were okay with everybody lying, but everybody gets to move on with a new set of rules.” 

Rep. Barry Ivey apologized to victims for failure of the government to provide protection and justice for them. 

“We must take decisive action,” Ivey said. “Please don’t make us make you. Do the right thing.”

Ivey said he is an LSU alumnus and this situation has cast a “long shadow over the University.”

“The ending of this meeting will not be the ending of this conversation,” Sen. Beth Mizell said.

Edwards said Tuesday that he read the report “in its entirety” and said that he was “sick to the stomach” while reading it.

“I will tell you that I was obviously very, very troubled by that report,” Edwards said. 

Edwards said it is “imperative” that college students know they are safe at any university in Louisiana.

“It’s a challenging situation but I will tell you that I was mortified when I read the report,” Edwards said. “It really made me sick to the stomach, to be honest with you. I am determined that we’re going to improve, not only at LSU, but to make sure that isn’t happening anywhere else.”

Alexander issued a letter Monday to students at his current university in response to allegations that reports of sexual assault were mishandled while he was president at LSU.

Alexander left LSU in December 2019 after nearly seven years at the University and moved to Oregon State University. The Husch Blackwell report found inadequate resources allocated to the Title IX Office which resulted in mishandling of reports of sexual assault during the years that Alexander was president.

Alexander wrote that he was “deeply saddened” by the experiences of sexual assault survivors detailed in the report. 

“Title IX is a fundamental priority at all universities, and I am fully in support of regular reviews that assist any university in improving how it addresses misconduct,” Alexander wrote.

According to the letter, Alexander created the first internal Title IX Office at LSU while he was president. He said that as president, he required all sexual assault concerns be reported to the University’s Title IX Office instead of an outside firm, which was the previous process.

“Given the experiences of survivors documented in the LSU report, I acknowledge we should have moved faster in more fully staffing and increasing the budget for the Title IX office and its efforts,” Alexander wrote.

Alexander also addressed the recent sexual assault allegations against former LSU Head Football Coach Les Miles. Alexander wrote that during his first few weeks as president, he was told by attorneys that there was not enough evidence to support termination of Miles.

Alexander wrote that he now regrets not taking action against Miles.

“In hindsight, beyond limitations that were put into place between the coach and students, I now regret that we did not take stronger action earlier against Coach Miles, including suspension leading to further investigation and dismissal for violations of university policy, before I ordered him terminated in early fall 2016,” Alexander wrote.

Miles was let go from the University of Kansas Monday night, three days after Kansas placed him on administrative leave amid accusations of inappropriate conduct toward female students while he was at LSU.

According to the Husch Blackwell report released Friday, former LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva sent an email in June 2013 that Miles should be fired as head coach following the accusations of inappropriate conduct.