by Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator
December 2, 2024
For more than 20 years, Anne LaHaye investigated heinous crimes against children, some involving sexual assault, for the FBI.
But investigating complaints of sexual misconduct and other types of discrimination at LSU was more than she could stomach, and she left her job less than a year after being hired. It had nothing to do with the work itself, but instead what she described as a hostile workplace in the university’s Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX.
“It’s not healthy. It’s a toxic environment,” LaHaye said of her time at LSU, which spanned from August 2023 to June 2024.
Four years ago this month, LSU became engulfed in scandal following a USA Today investigative report that revealed how the university mishandled sexual misconduct complaints against student-athletes. A subsequent in-house probe, conducted by the Husch Blackwell law firm, revealed a number of institutional problems regarding Title IX, the federal law that covers discrimination based on sex in the realm of education.
The scandal effectively ended the career of national championship-winning football coach Les Miles, who was fired from the University of Kansas, where he was coaching following his dismissal from LSU for the team’s poor performance. It also tarnished the legacy of star running back Derrius Guice, who was accused of rape while he was a student-athlete. As a player with the Washington Redskins, Guice was accused of domestic violence. He was charged with domestic violence, though the charges were eventually dropped.
In the aftermath of the USA Today revelations, LSU promised to reform its Title IX office.
Then LSU President Tom Galligan pledged action to “immediately improve the way LSU responds to sexual and domestic assault allegations — and ultimately make our community a safer place for everyone.”
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LaHaye is one of several employees who allege the arm of the university tasked with preventing and investigating power-based violence, discrimination and Title IX violations on campus is instead perpetrating those same offenses. In the process, they say the university is leaving vulnerable students and employees without vital help. She and others who worked in and with the office detailed their experiences to the Louisiana Illuminator and Tiger Rag.
The Illuminator and Tiger Rag submitted two dozen questions about the employees’ allegations to LSU spokesman Todd Woodward, who did not address the vast majority of them in his written responses.
“We cannot answer your myriad of anonymous sources,” Woodward wrote. “We of course work diligently every day to help educate, prevent and support the whole campus, especially those who have suffered from any form of power-based violence.”
LaHaye and other current and former employees, some who were granted anonymity because of fear of retaliation from LSU, describe an environment rife with bullying and intimidation.
The turmoil, they say, has affected the work, with positions unfilled, high turnover and Title IX complaints languishing. Some described their mistreatment as “power-based violence,” a term found in a 2021 Louisiana law passed in the wake of the Title IX scandal and defined in state code as “any form of interpersonal violence intended to control or intimidate another person through the assertion of power over the person.”
Woodward acknowledged the Title IX office, like other campus departments, has some vacancies but added there is no evidence of power-based violence within the Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX.
Todd Manuel, LSU’s vice president for engagement, civil rights and Title IX, did not respond to an interview request and referred questions to Woodward.
State Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, was one of the key legislators who led the fight for reform on all Louisiana college campuses after the USA Today report. These reforms included regular reports schools have to make on what happens after allegations of power-based violence are made.
Mizell said in an interview that LSU had told her there had been a complaint within the Title IX office, but the university declined to share details with her. When informed of the allegations employees made against LSU, the senator expressed frustration that little had changed in four years.
“We’ve already got them sending us a stupid report on power-based violence, so we’re supposed to have the data that we can measure their performance on that,” Mizell said, saying she doesn’t think the reports contain enough information. “So what do we do that makes it a really serious consequence if we’re not getting the true information?”
Investigative slowdown, unfilled positions
An analysis of publicly available data LSU is required to compile on Title IX complaints reveals most go nowhere. Many stall when complainants don’t respond when the office reaches out to them, but the data doesn’t show how long it takes for investigators to contact these individuals.
Mizell expressed interest in expanding the scope of these reports.
LSU’s most recent power-based violence report, from April, indicates there are nine cases that have been open since either the fall 2022 or spring 2023 semester.
A Title IX complaint filed by two employees within the division nearly two years ago has also not been followed up on, the employees shared with the Illuminator and Tiger Rag. One of those employees said she has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education about LSU not investigating the complaint.
Getting its Title IX staff up to appropriate levels was one of the recommendations from Husch Blackwell, the law firm LSU hired in late 2020 to evaluate its complaint response process after the USA Today investigation. Its 262-page report detailed the university’s failings and outlined steps LSU needed to take to rightsize the office. One key step was increasing its number of investigators. The report did not provide a recommended number of investigators but noted LSU’s peer institutions have between three and six investigators.
At the time of the Husch Blackwell report, there were two Title IX investigators servicing the entire LSU System, which includes eight campuses throughout the state. In early 2022, Jane Cassidy, LSU’s interim vice president of civil rights and Title IX, told The Reveille the office had four investigators, with plans to hire another caseworker to help.
Presently, LSU employs three investigators, including its lead investigator, Arlette Henderson, who is currently on unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Henderson confirmed that she’s absent from work to the Illuminator and Tiger Rag but declined to speak further, citing a fear of retaliation.
It’s not that students aren’t reporting (sexual assault). We still have survivors going to hospitals to get forensic medical exams and reporting that they were assaulted in their dorm.
– Morgan Lamandre, Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response
Three investigators, with only two currently active, is “absolutely not” enough for a campus of over 36,000 students, said Nicole Bedera, a sociologist and author who studies Title IX structures at universities.
According to documents the Illuminator and Tiger Rag obtained in a public records request, LSU has three openings for investigators, but it does not appear to be currently advertising the vacancies online.
Woodward did not respond to questions about whether the positions are being advertised or what LSU is doing to recruit more investigators.
In addition to the open investigator positions, there are six other unfilled jobs out of a total of 21 authorized positions in the main campus Title IX office. LSU’s other locations have hired their own investigators.
Woodward claims the office is currently fully staffed as Husch Blackwell advised and as suggested in a report by Baker Tilly, another law firm LSU hired to ensure it fulfilled the Husch Blackwell recommendations.
“Are there still a few jobs to fill? Yes, like any office people come and go and so there is [sic] always a few openings,” Woodward said in a statement. “Right now LSU has just under 500 active job openings posted.”
LSU will also soon lose its Title IX coordinator, Josh Jones. His job includes overseeing formal investigations into gender equity, gender-based violence and employment discrimination. Jones also trains students, staff and faculty on Title IX provisions and mandatory reporting, according to the university.
In his resignation letter, which the Illuminator and Tiger Rag obtained through a public records request, Jones said he was leaving for “family reasons” and alluded to an issue he raised directly with Manuel. Jones did not respond to a request for more information about his resignation.
Training trouble
Anne LaHaye, who left her job at LSU after less than a year, said she was provided very little training on Title IX — a problem the Husch Blackwell report aimed to rectify.
“Ideally, there should be a robust set of Title IX training programs which educate community members on items such as mandatory reporting obligations, bystander intervention, etc.,” the report reads. “Ideally, the Title IX coordinator creates a uniform set of processes for investigators to follow to ensure that reports are consistently handled with the care they deserve, monitors the timeliness of investigations and otherwise ensures the quality of institutional resolution of reports of discrimination.”
Through a public records request, the Illuminator and Tiger Rag sought materials LSU uses to train its Title IX investigators. The 64-page document the university provided consists mostly of slideshows. The term “Title IX” appears only twice in the document, and there was no accompanying narration or information to indicate what else is covered in training sessions.
Mentions of sexual harassment and misconduct only appear in briefings of court cases cited in slideshows. It’s not clear what, if any, instruction is provided to employees on how to investigate such abuses, as Woodward declined to respond to questions inquiring about training.
LaHaye said her supervisor, Arlette Henderson, would often sit on her finished investigations for weeks or months at a time without approving them. She described Henderson as a “dictator” who would micromanage her but not finish her own work in a timely manner.
There were times Henderson would forget to check and forward complaints that would come in and then bombard investigators with more work than they could handle, LaHaye said. Henderson declined two interview requests and did not respond to questions about LaHaye’s allegations.
LaHaye said she was told not to speak to other investigators about her work, which she found detrimental to completing cases.
Since Manuel was hired at LSU, Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response, a local sexual assault prevention nonprofit that provides legal assistance to survivors going through the Title IX process, has noted a significant decrease in the number of requests for help.
In the aftermath of the 2020 scandal, STAR partnered with LSU to provide sexual assault prevention training to the Title IX office and other departments on campus. LSU abruptly ended the partnership before the fall 2022 semester, when Manuel was set to begin his job, citing the university increasing its Title IX staffing. The partnership was intended to last for five years.
STAR had worked with sexual assault survivors at LSU before this partnership and has continued to offer its free services in the years since the formal agreement ended. LSU lists STAR on its Title IX website as an off-campus resource for students.
Morgan Lamandre, STAR president, said her organization assisted about 30 students, mostly from LSU, going through the Title IX process in 2021 and 2022. Manuel started at LSU in fall 2022. Since January 2023, STAR has received just one request for help from an LSU student, Lamandre said.
“It’s not that students aren’t reporting,” Lamandre said. “We still have survivors going to hospitals to get forensic medical exams and reporting that they were assaulted in their dorm.”
Woodward did not respond to questions regarding the alleged slowdown in clearing Title IX cases or why fewer students are turning to STAR for help.
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Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: [email protected]. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.
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