LSU students speak on lawsuit filed against LSU for mishandling sexual misconduct allegations

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - More fire is going to LSU, a lawsuit is now being filed against them for mishandling misconduct allegations.

Current and former LSU students who are victims of sexual misconduct or harassment are filing a lawsuit against LSU.

RELATED: Former, current LSU students sue university for alleged Title IX violations

“It was actually the senate meeting, the first one where I testified that I decided that I was open to a lawsuit because it was very clear that LSU was not listening to us, and was not taking it seriously,” says Carlise Richardson who was a former LSU student and a student worker for LSU’s Athletics Department. The suit claims LSU “ignored systemic issues in LSU’s response to reports of sexual misconduct…”

In the lawsuit, they say they want to see changes at LSU in how they handle sexual misconduct cases. Specifically with reporting cases, removing the accused from classes with their victims, and enacting disciplinary actions when they uncover policy violations.

“I really didn’t even think about it from this standpoint, I was just honestly trying to speak up and speak the truth because sometimes the right thing isn’t the easiest,” says Kennan Johnson who is a former LSU student and tennis player.

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One of the most upsetting hits, according to these students, is the light disciplinary action given to some of the supervisors in the athletics department.

“I think people need to be fired, I think suspensions for a month or two weeks with no pay is just like a slap on the wrist,” adds Johnson. We further asked the victims if they were hoping more would come out of the Women’s and Children’s Senate Hearings, most of them responded yes, but when nothing really happened that’s why they decided to act.

“The only way they will care I mean is digging into their pockets, apparently this is the only way we have and this is why we are here for this. None of us asked for this, this is what they pushed us to do,” says Elisabeth Anderies who is a current student at LSU.

We did reach out to LSU, the Vice President of Communications and University relations provided us with this statement, “We have only just been made aware of the lawsuit through media stories, and therefore can’t comment on something we have yet to review. Instead, we are focused on taking actions to ensure that we create a campus that is safe, just, and worthy of the trust that has been placed in us.”

This is a class-action lawsuit, they have not worked out all of the finical demands just yet. $5 million is the minimum that’s required for one of the claims.

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