LSU football coach Ed Orgeron said Tuesday in a statement to the Louisiana state Senate committee that he considers Derrius Guice’s alleged sexual harassment of Gloria Scott in 2017 to be “totally unacceptable.” “but denied ever speaking to Scott directly about the matter.
Orgeron’s statement contradicts some of the claims Scott made to the committee on March 26 when he recalled working as a security worker at the New Orleans Superdome in December 2017 when Guice, who was then a running LSU, he approached her and told her friends in front of her that “I like having sex with older women like you” and “I want your body”.
Orgeron filed his written statement following a request from the Louisiana Senate Selective Committee on Women and Children to respond to Scott’s allegations.
In a letter to Orgeron, Senator Regina Barrow, who chairs the committee, wrote: “As the leader of the LSU football team, it is very important that your office take these matters into account and act accordingly to ensure the safety and -being of the students it serves “.
The committee began its hearings following the Husch Blackwell report, which was released in March and detailed LSU’s treatment of allegations of sexual assault and Title IX-related incidents.
The purpose of the committee is to provide policy recommendations to address allegations of sexual assault in Louisiana colleges.
Scott, who said he was humiliated by Guice’s alleged comments, told lawmakers that Orgeron called his offer for Guice to apologize. Scott said Orgeron asked him to “please forgive me [Guice] because he is a child with problems “.
Scott said he told Orgeron and LSU officials that he wanted Guice suspended from playing in the Citrus Bowl on January 1, 2018. But Guice was allowed to play and said he never knew anything about it. ‘Orgeron.
In a statement, Orgeron said he tried to call Scott to have Guice apologize, but that a man answered the phone. Orgeron said the man would not put Scott on the phone unless the coach promised to suspend Guice, which he said he could not do until he had spoken to the university and learned more.
Orgeron wrote as he “remembers roughly hearing” that the same man who claimed to represent Scott had demanded monetary compensation from LSU and that these “allegations were validated with multiple audio recordings and electronic correspondence.”
ESPN obtained copies of the correspondence between the man who claimed to represent Scott, an AAU coach named Cleavon Williams, and LSU administrators.
In the recordings, Williams says Scott wants Guice suspended or paid for school to keep the story quiet. Williams asks LSU managers Miriam Segar and Virgin Ausberry, “What value does Derrius Guice have when playing the Citrus Bowl?”
But there is no evidence that Scott herself claimed money from LSU.
Rather, in a text message, Williams writes that he spoke with Scott’s grandson and that they decided on $ 100,000 in compensation for “public embarrassment and sexual harassment.”
When ESPN contacted Monday, Scott repeatedly denied having asked for money.
He said he asked Orgeron, Segar and Ausberry that Guice’s suspension be just a punishment for “making fun of me.”
“I wasn’t looking for anything more than that,” he said.
Orgeron, who wrote to the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children instead of appearing in person, said that if he spoke directly to Scott “it does not change the fact that what happened to Mrs. Scott in 2017 is unequivocally Incorrect”.
“As a leader, and as a father, son and grandson, I want to emphasize that it is heartbreaking that Mrs. Scott was subjected to such crude statements by Mr. Guice, and that she should be respected for her courage and determination to provide. statements to the Committee, “Orgeron wrote. “She, along with this committee, has my word that I will continue to monitor to ensure that the LSU football program maintains a culture of integrity and compliance.”