For years, Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response (STAR), an organization that operates in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Alexandria, has asked Louisiana State University to work more closely with their group. According to the Louisiana Illuminator article published in The Advocate, LSU turned down efforts to help students, sexual assault services group says. STAR offered to assist LSU in developing and improving efforts at prevention and response to sexual assault on the campus. While the LSU Women’s Center, the Women and Gender Studies Department and the LSU Lighthouse Program have an ongoing partnership with STAR, LSU’s Greek system and the athletics department have declined their assistance.
USA Today’s recently published report details several cases where the university appeared to ignore or downplay sexual assault violence by LSU’s football team and fraternity members. Now LSU has announced it would hire a law firm to review LSU’s sexual misconduct policies and how the university has handled complaints. They have declined to comment on the STAR or USA Today statements.
The stark reality is that a sexual assault occurs every 98 seconds in the U.S. Only a small percentage of perpetrators are sent to jail and justice in criminal courts is rarely achieved. Sometimes victims of sexual assault can seek compensation through lawsuits in Civil Court. If you are the survivor of sexual assault and would like to discuss your case, please contact us to schedule a confidential meeting.
