BATON ROUGE, La. – In a $ 50 million federal extortion case, an athletic director of the LSU has accused college officials of retaliation against her for reporting racist comments and inappropriate sexual behavior by former Tigers football coach Les Miles.
Sharon Lewis’ lawsuit says her pay rises were denied and subjected to verbal abuse after she went to officials with the allegations against Miles, including her charge that he told her there were ‘too many black girls’ working in athletics and an incident when a female college student accused him of “getting on top of her” on his office desk. It also accuses LSU officials of working with a law firm to cover up allegations against Miles, including one that he was involved in “explicit sex acts” with a college student.
“This lawsuit is a fiction eight years in the making,” Miles’s attorney, Peter Ginsberg, said in an emailed statement. Miles has denied allegations that he made sexual advances to students.
Lewis, a former athletic star for the Tigers, is the associate 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 found the school had mishandled 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 currently serves as an Associate Athletic Director, is now filing a lawsuit against the university,” LSU attorney Winston DeCuir said in an email. “Following her counsel’s press conference, we believe this lawsuit is an attempt to take advantage of the situation for personal gain.”
Numerous LSU officials declined to testify in Baton Rouge on Thursday at a legislative hearing about the ongoing scandal and sent DeCuir on their behalf.
Several LSU students told the committee that they believe that university leaders are not doing enough to improve the climate.
“It still feels like the university is waiting for everything to go away,” said Charlie Stephens, a sophomore at the LSU School of Mass Communications.
Lewis ‘lawsuit says her complaints to LSU about Miles’ behavior resulted in retaliation from Miles, executive deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry, senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar, and others. It also alleges the creation of a “corporation” whose members have conspired to protect the university from complaints of sexual harassment and allegations of violations of the federal Title IX Sex Discrimination Act. The alleged venture included five current or former LSU board members, Ausberry, Segar, former sports director Joe Alleva, and attorneys at a law firm – Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips – who had been hired by the university to investigate the allegations.
Vicki Crochet, a lawyer with Taylor Porter and a defendant in Lewis’s lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, she defended Taylor Porter’s handling of the allegations in a letter to a senate committee.
“We stand behind our analysis and the thorough work we have done for LSU,” she wrote, saying student confidentiality was a top priority.
Miles was recently impeached as a Kansas football coach following the publication of a 148-page review by the law firm Husch Blackwell on LSU’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints across campus.
Lewis’ suit says 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. The suit says some of the women interviewed reported that Miles “asked them about their sex life.”
Lewis said she eventually had a nervous breakdown as a result of the hostility and intimidation.
The university hired Husch Blackwell law firm after USA Today covered LSU’s handling of sexual assault cases involving two former soccer players. Ausberry and Segar were briefly suspended without pay.
Lawmakers on Thursday expressed frustration at the university’s refusal to fire the athletics department employees mentioned in the investigative report.
“People have seen bad actors, and there have been no consequences,” said Senator Beth Mizell, the Senate’s second Republican.