By Lori Pilger, Lincoln Journal Star, July 20, 2020
ine women, all former or current students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, sued the school in federal court here Monday alleging its investigations and responses into sexual misconduct and harassment were insufficient.
“We have outlined a pattern of behavior that has frightened and discouraged UNL students from reporting incidents of abuse to the university. These are not isolated incidents,” their attorney, Karen Truszkowski, said Monday.
Some of the allegations came to light first in April when a Title IX lawsuit was filed against the NCAA in U.S. District Court in Michigan on behalf of students at UNL and Michigan State University.
At least some of the reported incidents name Husker student-athletes as victims and allege players, who are not named, of wrongdoing.
That case later was voluntarily dismissed and refiled in Michigan state court, Truszkowski said.
And now there are two separate lawsuits against each of the universities.
In the case filed in U.S. District Court in Lincoln this week, Truszkowski said UNL’s failure to appropriately respond and investigate the women’s claims, “as well as the sex and race discrimination and other harms perpetrated by UNL against the plaintiffs,” caused them severe harms and denied them their ability to participate fully in their education as UNL students.
The Lansing, Michigan-based attorney, who specializes in Title IX and sex discrimination cases, said three of the nine women were “forced to leave the university due to the severity of the harm caused to them.”
