Lauren Summa, a Hofstra University graduate student and the former athletic manager of university’s football team, has filed a lawsuit alleging that she was repeatedly sexually harassed by players on team bus trips in 2006. Summa said that she reported the incidents to the team’s head coach Dave Cohen, but no action was taken, the harassment continued and she was subsequently dropped from the athletic staff. According to the lawsuit, Cohen told her that the incidents were not serious and that reporting the incidents to campus authorities “would only draw unnecessary attention to the football program,” reported the Associated Press.
In one incident outlined in the lawsuit, Summa described harassment by players on the team bus when they shouted obscenities as they viewed a sexually explicit movie provided by the assistant coach. On another occasion, team members locked Summa in the bus bathroom. “I was totally humiliated, embarrassed and ashamed. I never thought I would be in this position in my life. I thought the authority figures would step up,” Summa told the Associated Press.
