BATON ROUGE, La. In a $ 50 million federal lawsuit, a fellow athletic director of LSU accused university officials of retaliating for reporting racist remarks and inappropriate sexual behavior by former Tigers soccer coach Les Miles.
Sharon Lewis’s lawsuit says she was denied salary increases and underwent oral abuse after going to officials with the allegations against Miles, including her accusation that he told her there were ‘too many black girls’ in athletics and’ an incident when a female student accused him of “climbing on top of her” on his office desk. It also accuses LSU officials of collaborating with a law firm to disguise the allegations against Miles, including one that he had ‘explicit sex acts’ with a student.
“This lawsuit is a fiction that is eight years in the making,” Miles’ attorney Peter Ginsberg said in an email. Miles denied allegations that he made sexual advances toward students.
Lewis, a former track and field star for the Tigers, is the co-athletic director for football recruiting and alumni relations at LSU. Her lawsuit, filed in Baton Rouge, is the latest hit for the university after an independent investigator mishandled the school’s allegations of sexual misconduct by student-athletes and Miles.
“We are disappointed that a 20-year-old employee, who has received several promotions throughout her career and is currently serving as an associate athletic director, is now filing a lawsuit against the university,” said Winston DeCuir, LSU attorney, said in an email. “After the press conference by her lawyer, we believe this lawsuit is an attempt to take advantage of the situation for personal benefit.”
Numerous LSU officials in Baton Rouge on Thursday refused to testify during a legislative hearing on the ongoing scandal, which DeCuir sent on their behalf.
Several LSU students have told the committee that they do not believe university leaders are doing enough to improve the climate.
“It still feels like the university is waiting for everything to disappear,” said Charlie Stephens, a sophomore at LSU’s mass communication school.
Lewis’s lawsuit states that her complaints to LSU about Miles’ behavior led to retaliation by Miles, executive deputy athletics director Verge Ausberry, senior fellow athletics director Miriam Segar and others. It also alleges the establishment of an ‘enterprise’ whose members conspired to protect the university from complaints of sexual harassment and allegations of violations of the federal Title IX Discrimination Act. The alleged company included five current or former LSU board members, Ausberry, Segar, former athletic director Joe Alleva and lawyers at a law firm – Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips – to investigate the allegations.
Vicki Crochet, a lawyer with Taylor Porter and an accused in Lewis’ lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, in a letter to a state Senate committee, she defended Taylor Porter’s handling of the allegations.
“We stand behind our analysis and the thorough work we have done for LSU,” she wrote, saying that students’ confidentiality is an extreme concern.
Miles was recently fired as football coach in Kansas following the release of a 148-page review by the Husch Blackwell law firm on LSU’s handling of complaints of sexual misconduct worldwide.
According to Lewis’ suit, Miles told her in 2009 that there were ‘too many black girls’ employed by the athletics department. It says she refused to fire them.
Lewis said she was ordered by Ausberry to arrange for Miles to interview female students in his office at night. According to the case, some of the women interviewed reported that Miles ‘asked them about their sex life’.
Lewis said she eventually had a mental breakdown due to the hostility and harassment.
The university hired the Husch Blackwell law firm after a report by USA Today, which dealt with LSU on sexual assault cases involving two former football players. Ausberry and Segar were briefly suspended without pay.
Lawmakers on Thursday expressed frustration over the university’s refusal to lay off employees of the athletics department, mentioned in the investigation report.
“People saw bad actors, and there were no consequences at all,” Sen said. Beth Mizell, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, said.