Maj. Martha Helen Haire, long-time veteran of the LSU Police Department, claimed Thursday she was not promoted despite superior qualifications because she is female. She claims Sgt. Lawrence Rabalais was hired instead of her despite his lack of a college degree — an advertised requirement for the position.LSUPD needs to respond to these accusations quickly and publicly. LSUPD administrators have committed a grievous offense if Haire’s accusations are true, and those responsible need to be swiftly reprimanded.If her accusations are unfounded, the department needs to have its defense in order quickly. Whether the officers involved like it or not, these serious allegations reflect poorly on not just LSUPD, but the entire University. It’s a public relations fiasco, but, more importantly, it’s a possible systematic failure of moral and ethical judgment on a reprehensible scale.If true, these accusations constitute a patently unacceptable example of gender discrimination — especially in a place that is supposed to be a center of open-mindedness and tolerance.It’s sad such prejudices still exist, but they do.We sincerely hope this fiasco is merely the result of a huge miscommunication. But, barring that, the University needs to respond to the charges immediately, clearly and publicly. We have to send a signal that such behavior is not tolerated in any way on this campus.- – – -Contact the Editorial Board at [email protected]