Thread by @JSODonoghue

There's a lot of new information that is disturbing and upsetting in this most recent @USATODAY story from @kennyjacoby about @LSUathletic.

If you thought the allegations couldn't get worse, they can and they did.....

usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…

Sharon Lewis, from LSU Athletics, said when she tried to push back against Les Miles' demands that she fire Black female student workers and replace them with blond (and white) student workers or "lighter skinned" Black female student workers....she was punished. #lalege

Lewis is now bringing a lawsuit (and a bunch of other actions) against a lot of people at LSU over the way they treated her.

Notably, she's bringing it under an "organized crime" statute. Louisiana lawmakers have been comparing the athletics department to the mafia recently.

Lewis' attorney says their case against LSU about her mistreatment -- and the mistreatment of many women by LSU athletics and athletics administrators -- is about women. Specifically, it's about the mistreatment of Black women.

The Husch Blackwell report made clear that Les Miles wanted LSU to hire blond women who were students to work for him. But Lewis' allegations in this story are more explicit about Miles wanting student workers who were Black women to be fired and replaced. #lalege

Apparently, men who worked for LSU Athletics -- including Verge Ausberry -- went along with this request from Les Miles that female student workers should be "blond" or lighter-skinned Black women, according to Lewis.

Football officials -- including Ausberry -- allowed Miles to interview female students for jobs in the Athletics department at night, Lewis said. Miles asked about the students' sex lives, she said.

Lewis is provided new details about what allegedly happened between Les Miles and a student. He is being accused -- by Lewis at least -- of climbing on top of a women who was a student. We didn't know this detail about allegation against him previously.

Lewis says Miles didn't give her a raise because he was upset that she didn't hire prettier student workers to work for the football program. (Previous comments lead to me to think Les Miles allegedly thinks white women and lighter-skinned Black women are prettier FWIW.)

Lewis says LSU Athletic officials ignored the fact that Miles had asked her to fire a Black woman because she was "ugly" and a male student worker who "looked gay."

This includes officials who are still employed at LSU Athletics.

Lewis says Ausberry -- who was already suspended for not reporting a football player who hit his girlfriend to authorities when he found out about it -- was particularly hostile toward her.

This is the first time current Athletics Director Scott Woodward has been brought into this scandal so explicitly. Lewis says Ausberry told her that Woodward would never reprimand Ausberry because Ausberry and Woodward were friends.

It's important to remember that this is just one woman's account of what was happening in LSU Athletics, but even if only some of this stuff is true....It is really, really bad.

You should read @kennyjacoby and @USATODAY's story. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…

I've also put out a roundup of some of the new allegations in @kennyjacoby's report. You can find that here: lailluminator.com/2021/04/06/lsu… #lalege #lagov