A former Marshall University cheerleader has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit naming the university’s Board of Governors, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and Marshall’s cheerleading coach as defendants.
The plaintiff, represented by lawyer Mary Downey and identified only as “K.C.” in the suit, was invited to join Marshall’s cheerleading squad in April 2005 and was awarded a scholarship. She alleges that “she was subjected to a pervasive environment of sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination” including sexual slurs and inappropriate groping from male cheerleaders.
The suit claims that the plaintiff has suffered “severe emotional distress” and “will continue to need psychological and medical care as a direct result of her treatment by defendants.”
Among abuse alleged in the suit was male cheerleaders routinely “exposing their genitalia” and threatening “female members with violence and physical harm, such as dropping them during routines.”
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