Name: Key figures in LSU's sexual misconduct report get reassigned; here's what they're doing now
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Key figures in LSU's sexual misconduct report get reassigned; here's what they're doing now

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You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.LSU's Jennie Stewart, top left, Jonathan Sanders, top right, Verge Ausberry, bottom left, and Miriam Segar, bottom right.&nbsp;LSU Memorial Tower is one of the most iconic and historic structures on the LSU campus.Students spend time in the Quad on LSU's campus the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge, La.LSU's Jennie Stewart, top left, Jonathan Sanders, top right, Verge Ausberry, bottom left, and Miriam Segar, bottom right.&nbsp;LSU Memorial Tower is one of the most iconic and historic structures on the LSU campus.Students spend time in the Quad on LSU's campus the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge, La.More than a month after LSU released the report by the law firm Husch Blackwell on the university's past failures in handling complaints of sexual misconduct and dating violence on campus, LSU's Title IX coordinator has been reassigned, and a few other employees have seen their job duties change.The changes come as the turmoil surrounding LSU has spread to the Capitol, where some lawmakers have chided university administrators for not doing more — especially firing people — over the problems Husch Blackwell highlighted. The Senate Select Committee on Women and Children has repeatedly expressed frustration to Tom Galligan, the university's&nbsp;interim president, over how LSU has handled the report, and House Appropriations Chairman Jerome “Zee” Zeringue told Galligan this week to relay a message that lawmakers are disappointed in LSU's Board of Supervisors over its "lack of action."Galligan has maintained it would be unfair to fire LSU employees who were unsure how to report or to whom they should report instances of sexual misconduct. He said LSU is drilling down with training to make reporting rules clearer, including that all LSU employees — with the exception of a few counselors and advisers bound by confidentiality — are required to report allegations of sexual misconduct on campus to Title IX. He also said LSU is drafting a policy to make it clear that employees can be fired if they fail to do so.&nbsp;“The most difficult thing will be the cultural changes that we need to see," Galligan said in an interview with The Advocate | The Times-Picayune. "And it may be in America, but at LSU, at least, that sexual assault and violence is not tolerated. And so if I’m in a position as a person where I realize I’m approaching a line with another person, it needs to be innate that I stop. If I know something, it needs to be innate that I can’t sleep at night until I report it to the Title IX coordinator."LSU's Title IX coordinator, Jennie Stewart, has been reassigned; she is now the coordinator responsible for ensuring that LSU complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. ADA compliance had been among Stewart's job duties since 2018, according to the Husch Blackwell report. But the change means that Stewart will focus only on ADA compliance, and will no longer will oversee Title IX reporting.In the Title IX coordinator role, Stewart was in charge of how the university handled investigations into complaints that students were sexually assaulted or victimized by domestic violence. Her decision-making came under fire repeatedly: Some students who went through the investigative process of their complaints, and others have called on her to resign.Husch Blackwell found that while LSU's Title IX office under Stewart bungled some cases, Stewart also repeatedly warned LSU that the office was understaffed and needed more resources. The firm said "it is hard to see how someone could be successful with all of these roles" assigned to Stewart.LSU is hiring a consultant to temporarily handle Stewart's past Title IX coordinator role until a permanent replacement is found. The university is also hiring additional staff to beef up the Title IX office. Overall, LSU expects to spend $1 million this year on those changes and to hire around 18 specialists.&nbsp;Job duties have also changed for Senior Associate Athletic Director Miriam Segar, who recently returned to campus after a 21-day suspension based on Husch Blackwell's findings.&nbsp;For years, Segar had been the point person in the LSU Athletic Department for anyone who had a complaint of sexual misconduct, domestic violence or a similar encounter. LSU&nbsp;employees told Husch Blackwell that they believed Segar to be the “Athletics Title IX Coordinator." Former LSU Athletics Director Joe Alleva created a departmentwide policy that instructed employees to report misconduct to Segar.The law firm found Segar made a mistake in 2016 by keeping former star running back Derrius Guice's name off a report of rape from a member of LSU's swimming and diving team.“Because of this omission, when Guice was accused of subsequent misconduct by other students … this initial report was not considered or revisited," Husch Blackwell attorneys wrote.Guice has been accused of sexual misconduct by four women during his time at LSU. His attorney has denied he did anything wrong.Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today.Since she has returned to work, Segar is no longer the point person for reports of sexual assault within LSU Athletics. Segar still has other Title IX duties in the Athletic Department,&nbsp; including gender equity.Segar's attorney, Mary Olive Pierson, has said that Segar's job duties were "misrepresented" in the Husch Blackwell report."Ms. Segar has dutifully reported all complaints received by her to the proper departments for further action," to the Senate committee, declining its request for Segar to testify."There was only one time that Ms. Segar did not directly report a complaint to the affected department and that was the occasion when she actually drove the complaining party to Campus Police to file a police report and Campus Police had a responsibility to forward the report to the proper department," Pierson continued.LSU's Associate Dean of Students Jonathan Sanders is also no longer overseeing decision-making about how to punish Title IX offenders, among other students found responsible for violating university policies. that Sanders was under "a review that includes checking facts in recent media articles as well as the Husch Blackwell report."Sanders has been reassigned to a role overseeing special projects in LSU's Student Affairs office.Several students have complained that even after their perpetrators were found responsible for violating Title IX or other LSU policies, Sanders doled out light punishments. Among those were "deferred suspensions," where students would remain on campus and only be suspended if they committed another violation. that LSU expelled just one student for rape, dating violence or other similar misconduct from 2016 through 2020, despite finding 46 students responsible for those offenses.Though LSU's Executive Deputy Athletic Director Verge Ausberry was also suspended for a month after the release of the Husch Blackwell report, Galligan said that Ausberry's job duties have remained the same upon his return to work. Ausberry failed to report a text message that he received in 2018 from a football player who admitted to hitting his girlfriend. Ausberry said he called the football player after receiving it, and that he recanted his confession.He wrote in to the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children that he looked "forward to working with the University to implement the recommendations of Husch Blackwell."LSU has named Senior Vice Provost Jane Cassidy as the university's interim vice president for Civil Rights and Title IX as the university on its progress on 18 recommendations from Husch Blackwell.Some that LSU has checked off: Changing the reporting line for the Title IX coordinator, who was moved under Cassidy's purview; creating targeted training for athletics; and finalizing a memorandum of understanding between LSUPD and the campus.Galligan said LSUPD is now sharing reports of sexual assault and domestic violence with the Title IX office. Husch Blackwell faulted LSUPD for previously not sharing those reports, saying the department was misinterpreting state law.&nbsp;Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission

You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.LSU's Jennie Stewart, top left, Jonathan Sanders, top right, Verge Ausberry, bottom left, and Miriam Segar, bottom right.&nbsp;LSU Memorial Tower is one of the most iconic and historic structures on the LSU campus.Students spend time in the Quad on LSU's campus the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in Baton Rouge, La.LSU's Jennie Stewart, top left, Jonathan Sanders, top right, Verge Ausberry, bottom left, and Miriam Segar, bottom right.&nbsp;LSU Memorial Tower is one of the most iconic and historic structures on the LSU...

Key figures in LSU's sexual misconduct report get reassigned; here's what they're doing now

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