The school, she said, fears lawsuits and knows perpetrators are more likely than survivors to sue. 737K followers. LSU last year promoted him to executive director of external relations for the university, in addition to executive deputy athletic director. In a second incident in April 2018, Davis allegedly punched the victim in the left side of her stomach and fractured her rib. Yet when it came to Guice and Davis, LSU officials made similar errors, failing to get the Title IX office or police involved when federal laws and school policies required it, USA TODAYs investigation found. At least seven LSU officials had direct knowledge that wide receiver Drake Davis was physically abusing his girlfriend, a different LSU womens tennis player, but they sat on the information for months, while Davis continued to assault and strangle her. Keri Frankenberger was a senior on that team. Johnson and the senior both told The Reveille that Sell fabricated that story. It was just all so overwhelming," Lewis said. Upon her reentry into the vehicle Davis strangled the victim.". But she recalled her living room being disheveled the next morning with Guices wallet in her couch cushions. The player said she saw no warning signs of the treatment she would later receive from Sell while she was being recruited. Guices attorney has said he was never disciplined, and LSU attorney Johanna Posada confirmed in response to a public records request that four other athletes were not disciplined, either. One day we were in a meeting with another staff member, and while I was sitting at a table, Frank comes around to the side of me, kisses me on the lips. LSU has taken the position that these Black womens voices dont matter, English, one of Lewis attorneys, said. Additionally, LSU investigators did not interview Davis for more than two months, records show. But the details of how LSU handled complaints against the other seven, including two who played key roles on its 2020 national championship team, remain largely secret. You have permission to edit this article. He did not return phone and social media messages from a reporter. LSU initiated the Husch Blackwell investigation after former Tiger running back Derrius Guice was arrested on domestic violence charges in 2020. She said she dreaded going to practice and playing matches because she felt she wasnt supported, valued or appreciated for who she was. Federal laws and LSU's own policies require . The womans father told USA TODAY he spoke to Mike Sell twice in the summer of 2017 about his daughters toxic relationship with Davis. LSU Athletics, Louisiana State University, 2023. Brand Guidelines LSU also refused to provide records to the tennis player who said Guice raped her. Women's Tennis Roster 2021-22 - LSU Mobile Menu Button Segar and Ausberry were briefly suspended by the university for their inaction to reports of sexual misconduct throughout the athletics program, but returned to their jobs. One former player, who spoke to USA Today with her experience of how LSU handled her rape case, told the Reveille that she reported her rape when she went into rehab. When we become aware of accusations, we have an obligation to immediately report every allegation to the Universitys Title IX office so that appropriate due process can be implemented.. In early September, Sanders who had served as the schools Greek life director before becoming student advocacy and accountability director in 2016 issued sanctions against the frat member: a meeting on anger management and healthy relationships, a course on ethics and decision-making, and a deferred suspension for four semesters. Until being recently advised in connection with this USA TODAY investigation, Mr. Delpit was unaware of any police report or Title IX complaint having been lodged against him in 2017, his attorney, Shawn Holley, said in a statement. Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Johnson hung around LSUs womens tennis team in high school. "That suggestion is false, as such allegations were never disclosed to us. Both were arrested. Taylor's Thoughts. And thats just sad to say. LSU suspended Parrish for one year. No. HoopGurlz 2024 Super 60. Despite Sanders missteps, the panel in late September 2019 voted to increase the sanctions against the frat member, suspending him for two semesters and banning him from campus. Before thehearing panel, Sanders asked the women if they had additional evidence to present. A former LSU women's tennis player says her former coach lied about her knowledge of a Tigers football player physically abusing her between May 2017 and August 2018 . 1 triple jump performer in Lady Vol history, Tennessee graduate student Charisma Taylor posted a program record mark of 13.82 meters (45-4.25) on Saturday at the LSU Invitational to finish as the top collegiate athlete at the meet and second overall. Its not only athlete cases that have stalled in LSUs Title IX process. However, she said she found some messages that supported her claims on an old laptop and old cellphone and produced screenshots of messages to Segar pleading for help to solve our problem.. When Brennan asked for the rest of the file, two LSU officials told her she could not have it because the statute of limitations in the case had not expired, she said. Hes a baby. If we get worn down enough, were just going to give up at some point. But that jubilation soon faded, and Johnsons relationship with Sell quickly soured. I reported everything that came my way to the people I was supposed to report to. I think theyre making decisions that are best for the success of the program, and theyre making the decision to put the safety and well-being of other students behind a players ability to play on a Saturday afternoon.. Cementing her place as the No. Washington released him, and he has not been signed by another team. After LSU women's tennis Co-Head Coach Julia Sell gained national spotlight for allegedly ignoring reports that one of her players was a victim of rape, former LSU tennis players have come forward to describe the "toxic" culture of Sell's program. Frankenberger, a senior during Sells first season, suffered injuries while being coached by Sell. But no one did anything, and it escalated and just went from 0 to 100 really fast.. Photo by Abby Kibler. The players relationship grew cold for a while, until later, when they discovered that Sell had lied. Orgeron declined to answer. He did not, nor did he return a subsequent voicemail. 1-ranked LSU (35-8, 15-5 SEC) swept all three games in the series, winning 8-6 on Friday, 12-8 on Saturday and 13-11 Sunday. LSU officials had knowledge of sexual assault allegations made against multiple former football players and either ignored those complaints or denied the victims' requests for protection . Another former player who witnessed Sells favoritism during her time on the team attested to Frankenbergers stories. They are working on fixing the problems outlined in the Husch Blackwell report, which are the exact same things I reported were happening. Lewis has brought similar claims in state court under the Louisiana Racketeering Act. Decades of misconduct allegations at LSU come under scrutiny in $50 million suit Sharon Lewis, an LSU alum and former employee, claims the several complaints she filed over 20 years led to her. Minnis returned to his hometown in 1992 to take over the LSU women's tennis team. But I dont even know if theyre going to fire her.. Another former LSU tennis player told USA Today that she personally reported Davis' abuse to Julia Sell "six to seven months before that, at least. "A recent story by USA Today suggests that Mike and I failed to report allegations of dating violence disclosed to us by a parent and former player," Julia Sell wrote. On Aug. 19, Brennan herself requested a copy of her police report. I would describe her as cold, the former player said. The woman's father said he also reported it to Mike Sell and spoke to him twice in the summer of 2017 about his daughter's relationship with Davis. / Her father said it was horrible to watch Sell treat his daughter the way she did. We are committed to a culture of safety, equity and accountability for all students and staff. My whole time there, the team was always very divided, she said. LSU also declined to issue a no-contact order between her and the frat member;because they hadnt been talking, there isnt any communication to cease, a Title IX employee said in an email to Andries. So that sucked.. In fact, a top LSU athletics administrator had been sitting on a confession from Davis for four months. In an earlier statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday, Sell denied that she or her husband, co-head coach Michael Sell, had knowledge of Davis' alleged abuse. She provided police with a photograph of the bruise, according to the report. The player came into college with what she described as disordered eating habits and body image issues. A former tennis player disputed that, saying she personally reported Davis' abuse to Julia Sell six to seven months before that, at least., Im sure they knew, because I talked to her,the former player said of Julia Sell. The player said she worked very hard that season to do well and was proud of herself for what she had accomplished, but after Sells comment, she felt like she could never win with her coach. Instead, Andries said she was told that she would have to be the one to switch, because she was the uncomfortable one, and he had the same rights as her. Got a question? The father shared the same information with an LSU police detective in August 2018, a police report shows. Everything Sharon is saying is the absolute truth, and its crazy how much pushback LSU is giving, knowing it all is true, a former worker at LSU, a Black woman, told NBC News on the condition of anonymity. In fall 2012, a player called the police after witnessing a teammates boyfriend commit domestic violence during a Saturday night team outing at a Tigerland bar, the players said. The first time LSU staff followed the law and school policies in reporting Davis was the following year, in April 2018, when he punched the woman again, this time in the ribs. She just didnt like us, the former player said. She said she told Sell about the drug and alcohol use because she felt like she didnt know where else to turn to. HoopGurlz 2025 Terrific 25. haileyvanlith. Two chose to use their full names. This time, the other woman in the case appealed, feeling the sanctions were inadequate. In another statement, LSU interim president Tom Galligan wrote that the university "takes every report of sexual assault or violence seriously" and noted that the school investigates each and tries to support those affected. I dont know why certain people are being protected by the board of supervisors. I think I just kind of blacked out after that.. No one from LSU ever contacted the third woman about the allegation, the woman told USA TODAY a violation of federal and university Title IX policies. The incident occurred during Julia Sells first semester at the helm of the program. He went on to have a breakout, record-setting sophomore season. But if I was doing things well, nothing. Because theincident happened in her on-campus apartment, university officials were required under a federal law known as the Clery Act to report it to campus police, which must determine if Davis posed a serious or ongoing threatand whether to notify others. The conversation was not revealed until late August, when police found it after obtaining a search warrant for Davis phones. One of Lewis attorneys, Larry English, has asserted claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, in federal court against school officials. NCAA's international athletes still facing NIL challenges, The sorcery and science behind Virginia's swimming dynasty, Report: LSU ignored sexual assault complaints, Author of seven books on college football. The lawsuit is ongoing. LSU in July 2019 expelled Davis for violating its student conduct code and Title IX policy on multiple occasions during the summer and fall of 2018, disciplinary records obtained by USA TODAY show. Two other, current female students separately told USA TODAY that LSU issued deferred suspensions to the men who raped them. They kept saying there was nothing they could do.. College softball expert roundtable: Who has the most to prove and who can stop Oklahoma? I thought LSU would kick me out, or that something would happen to my scholarship.. By then, hed assaulted the tennis player at least three more times, including strangling her twice, the woman told police and USA TODAY. LSU denied the frat members final appeal that October. USA TODAY also found three cases in which, rather than expelling or suspending male students found responsible for sexual assault, LSU allowed them to stay on campus. Named Big Ten Tennis Athlete of the Week twice (2018 and 2020) 2x member of the . ESPN reported in August 2018 that the woman reported to LSU police four violent incidents involving Davis during the previous 18 months. The same day, Segar accompanied Brennan to the campus police department to file a report, which Brennan did. Lewis insists in her lawsuit that she reported several other cases of inappropriate behavior by coaches and players to Ausberry and Segar. It has happened before., When Johnson was still in high school, she attended one LSU tennis senior day. According to the three players, Sell held a team meeting about the incident on the following Monday, when she directed anger at the player who called police. She would lie to some girls and talk behind their backs and tell them that one girl on the team would say something bad about the other just to start hostility. LSU dropped courts three and six to Tulane. The former player was in rehab during her senior day match when the team read tributes to each senior. She's not going to be the bubbly, friendly person. When she called for the Sells to be fired, the crowd cheered and applauded. Read USA TODAY's investigation:Two women say ex-Washington RB Derrius Guice raped them at LSU when he was a freshman. Johnson and another friend both told her that her name was never mentioned in the announcements. In the suit, she alleges that her bosses created a hostile work environment, where she was subjected to discreet discriminatory acts and has experienced racially hostile work environment throughout her employment since 2005.. When Mulkey was coaching at Baylor, she pursued one of the nation's top players in guard Hailey Van Lith of Wenatchee, Washington who ultimately signed with Louisville. follow. Lewis said she came forward with inappropriate conduct allegations against Miles in 2005 after their first meeting, during which he told her he prefers blondes over brunettes. Lewis lawsuit says she was concerned Miles had an inappropriate fixation on female student workers.. Both told officers it was a verbal argument that had not turned physical. 2R (1999) US Open. But the Title IX office never reached out to Brennan, she said. In the fallout, mens basketball coach Will Wade was fired. Andries said she tried to ignore him in the class they had together two years later, but couldnt. Such an approach may explain why LSUs punishmentsfor sexual offenders have often amounted to a slap on the wrist. The 6-foot-1 LSU signee becomes just the fifth Louisiana The woman and her attorney have called and written LSU repeatedly over the past threemonths, but the school has yet to produce a single document, they said. USA Today reported that it found no evidence that White, Mike Sell or Julia Sell informed anyone of Davis' alleged abuse, including the university's Title IX coordinator, which is required under federal law and LSU policy. Yet even after finding him responsible twice, LSU refused to switch him out of the classes that he and Andries were set to share during the upcoming, fall 2019 semester, emails show. I came back to your apartment last night, Guice told her, according to the text exchange Brennan shared with USA TODAY. They just didnt care, or they didnt believe her.. No other emails were missing; just the ones from those two, she said. We have in the past and will continue to take appropriate action and comply with all reporting protocols. The player said Sells criticism of her weight was a constant occurrence in front of her and one of her teammates, who the player said had a medical condition that caused her to gain weight. Davis drove the victim to an area on Perkins road and threw her phone out the window. Bobby McDuffie / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images file, he was placed on administrative leave and then left the university in 2021, Segar and Ausberry were briefly suspended. What did he do?, Lewis, the womans supervisor, told her not to work directly with Frank at all, the woman recalled. Tennis has been my life since I was five years old. Three years later, in July 2018, investigators dropped the case, saying the victim had stopped communicating with them, records show. The woman said she told a team athletic trainer, Donavon White, that Davis punched her in the stomach in May 2017 during an argument. 'I never felt values:' Weight-shaming, Belittling and Tattling, featuring anonymous former LSU Women's Tennis players. LSU police arrested Davis a second time on Sept. 16, 2018, after detectives learned he was continuing to see and physically assault his girlfriend, against court orders. For telling the truth? While her work recruiting top athletes to come to LSU was integral to her job as the associate athletic director of football recruiting and alumni relations, she said that protecting the school from itself became a part of what I had to do.. She kind of acted like a child.. "However, we are not perfect, and we can, and will, do better," Galligan wrote. She said Sell frequently dangled it over her head, threatening to take it away if she didnt meet expectations. According to the woman, the coaching staff banned Davis from the weight room that summer but reinstated him once practices for the 2018 season began. He entered using a key the victim had given him. Ohio State men's tennis has dominated the Big Ten's regular season, but conference tournament success was elusive. Share this investigation. An institution has 90 days to address the NOA findings. But it is documented that they failed to do their jobs., According to the lawsuit, Lewis also said that before she lost her position, her emails and text messages to Ausberry and Segar on company devices about misconduct issues were erased. In 2018 he went on to coach at the University of Kansas, where he was placed on administrative leave and then left the university in 2021 amid revelations of the sexual misconduct allegations stemming from LSU. But the hearing panel postponed it upon the students appeal, instead allowing him to graduate before the suspension would take effect. But when her dad told Sell that his daughter had been raped, he received an entirely different side of the coach. For obvious reasons, I did not do that, Andries said. Her friend, Luke Dudley, a student equipment manager on the football team, introduced them. She told police that a "medical officer at LSU" evaluated her injury. Guice and Davis included, at least nine LSU football players have been reported to police forsexual misconduct and dating violence since coach Ed Orgeron took over the team four years ago, records show. FollowNBCBLKonFacebook,TwitterandInstagram. She's just toxic. LSUs failure to adequately address sexual misconduct goes beyond one star running back, a USA TODAY investigation found. A reporter for The Advocate, a newspaper in Baton Rouge, asked Orgeron at a post-scrimmage press conference if he or anyone at LSU knew about the allegations before the arrest. But they also have ruined my life when all I did was my job. She went to all the matches, befriended players, trained with them and fell in love with the program. I just want for them to be held accountable for their actions.. At the protest, Johnson stood at the entrance to the PMAC, the stadium where her father once played basketball, before a crowd of several hundred. The Official Athletic Site of the LSU, partner of WMT Digital. Miles attorney did not return a request for comment, but has in the past denied the claims. We were never a cohesive unit. I think its all designed so that everybody just gives up and goes home.. USA Today reported that Lewis told a team athletic trainer, Donavon White, that Davis punched her in the stomach in May 2017 during an argument. At least thats what Julia Sell said in a video posted to Facebook in May 2017, shortly after Johnson learned that her dream school had awarded her a scholarship. They told me I had to sit and stay in it, said Andries, who is still at LSU. I do not feel even remotely a part of LSU anymore because of her.. He just snapped it, she said. But it redacted the names of the suspects, victimsand witnesses, citing not a public records exemptionbut rather Louisiana's constitutional right to privacy. Johnson said that Sell later told her the senior ripped up the letter and threw it away, thinking the gesture was funny and childish. I am for whatever works to solve our problem. I was crying because I was honestly so glad it was over, Johnson said about her graduation in an interview. In the second call, according to USA Today, Lewis' father said he specifically told Mike Sell that Davis had punched her. Then, in April 2017, the athletic department received reports of a second rape allegation against Guice, this time by a women's tennis player. Davis in March 2019 pleaded guilty to two batteries and violating a protective order. I was a mess, she said. She just breezed right by the personal issues I was having because I was doing well on the court, the player said. The most comprehensive coverage of LSU Women's Tennis on the web with highlights, scores, game summaries, schedule and rosters. Privacy Policy DeCuir blocked Ausberry, Segar and anyone else from LSU from testifying because, he said at a hearing last year, it would be inappropriate for the individuals to speak, given the status of LSU athletics administrator Sharon Lewis $50 million suit against the school, according to LSUs student newspaper, The Reville. I couldnt believe it. Three spoke on the record, and four spoke anonymously. In another case, the school determined that a fraternity member had sexually assaulted two women, but it refused to move him out of classes he shared with one of them and altogether ignored an allegation against him by a third female student. Davis was a highly recruited, multisport athlete who, like Guice, was raised in Baton Rouge. She was never helping me, the former player said. As Johnson looks down at the paper, tears well in her eyes, and she beams from ear to ear. Finally, in June 2018, according to the report, "Davis was upset about a text message conversation and thus went to the victim's apartment. I remember repeatedly saying stop and no, Andries said. on Oct. 20, 2018. The Texas native started her college career at Baylor (playing for Kim Mulkey), but was dismissed from the team after a reported arrest. The Washington Football Team, which drafted Guice in the 2018 NFL drafts second round, released him shortly after his arrest on Aug. 7. 11 Texas, giving the program its highest ranked win in six years . You would think that Julia ]Sell] would at least have been put on temporary leave, she said. Samantha Brennan, a former LSU student, reported to LSU that football player Derrius Guice took a partially nude photo of her without her knowledge and shared it with at least one other person. On April 14, 2018, Davis admitted to punching the woman in a text message conversation with deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry, police records show. Sell played collegiate tennis at the University of Florida and worked as an assistant coach for UTSA before arriving in Baton Rouge. That summer, a female student told two senior athletics administrators that Guice took a partially nude photograph of her without her permission, and then shared it with a team equipment manager and possibly others. If you have atipor sensitive information you want to share, reach out to USA TODAYSportsatSportsTip@usatoday.com. Lewis said she felt ostracized and dismissed by some administrators in Baton Rouge. The others have not been criminally charged. She wants to be in control. But after Julia, it was a relief to be gone, which is sad.. The interview focused only on the June 18 incident, even though the woman had reported other assaults by Davis months earlier. Carrington fell 6-7, 6-1, 3-6 Rabinowitz fell 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 LSU 5, Tulane 2. In January 2017, the second semester of his freshman year, Davis began dating an LSU womens tennis player not the same one who said Guice raped her. He described the calls as tattling., I think it hurt her mental health to be treated like that by Julia [Sell], he said. BATON ROUGE, La. USA TODAY is not naming the fraternity member at the request of the women, who fear retaliation from him. The woman said the same when Sanders interviewed her two weeks later, though she acknowledged that Davis had punched her previously, records show. Just a bad, bad person, one former player said. I said, Thats not the point. She asked, What happened? Parrish, who transferred to the University of Memphis in August, denied theallegationthrough his attorney. I thought I would be really devastated to be done with it and graduate from LSU, she said. Guice, who had been drafted by the NFLs Washington Commanders, reached a settlement with the victim and the charges were dropped in June. I was like, What are you doing?, And then I got up and just ran down the hallway into Sharons office and just started crying. In spring 2019, Elisabeth Andries, an LSU industrial engineering major, encountered a familiar face in one of her classes: the fraternity member who she said sexually assaulted her two years earlier, when she was a freshman. Lastly, I would like to add that during the criminal case regarding the allegations I made, Coach Sell instructed the tennis team to stay away from me. I wasnt posing for it. I learned after the release of the Husch Blackwell Report in 2021 and Taylor Porter law firm documents that they were out to get me and that I was being set up, Lewis told NBC News about her tumultuous time at her alma mater. College baseball roundtable: Takeaways, most impressive teams, players and what to expect going forward, College baseball rankings: 2023 Top 25 poll, New Big Ten boss Petitti ready to lead 'new era', Nebraska volleyball eyes U.S. attendance record, 2023 NCAA gymnastics championships: Oklahoma repeats and Trinity Thomas ties record. They later told police that they did not learn of the abuse until a year later White in April 2018, and the Sells in June 2018, police records show. I just think that honestly they dont care, one of the women told USA TODAY. Obviously football has the power. April 26, 2023 6:18 pm ET. More: NCAA looks the other way as college athletes punished for sex offenses play on.
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