LSU professor promoted despite sexual misconduct allegations

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(SJM Public Relations)

An LSU professor who sued a man for defamation for reporting him to both the police and the university, claiming he was raped by the professor, has agreed to settle with the defendant. The alleged victim claims the lawsuit was retaliatory.

According to documents filed in Baton Rouge City Court in January 2021, the accuser, who asked not to be identified, emailed Elena Castro, also a professor at LSU, alleging that her colleague, Jeremy King, then Acting Director of LSU Linguistics, raped him twice in 2018. Castro later reported the incident to LSU’s Title IX office, she wrote in an email response to the accuser.

Although the incident did not involve Title IX because the accuser is not affiliated with the university, LSU’s Office of Human Resources Management has opened an investigation into King, according to court documents. King was placed on academic leave, preventing him from teaching classes in the spring 2021 semester, according to court documents.

King is still employed by LSU and was later promoted to permanent director of linguistics after the HR investigation.

According to court documents and interviews with the pair by Louisiana Illuminator, they met in September 2018 and were never in an exclusive relationship.

The Illuminator does not identify victims of sexual assault, alleged or confirmed, without their permission. The accuser is neither a student nor an employee of LSU.

The accuser also reported the January 2021 assaults to LSU police, who informed him they lacked jurisdiction because the alleged incidents occurred at Kings’ St. Gabriel home. They referred the accuser to the St. Gabriel Police Department, where he filed a report the same day.

St. Gabriel’s police report and a recording of his interview with the accuser were forwarded to the Iberville Parish District Attorney. It was determined that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges, according to the police report.

LSU has come under increased scrutiny for its handling of sexual misconduct since the release of a 2020 USA Today investigation that details universities’ systemic failure to investigate and prevent sexual misconduct. However, when The Illuminator requested documents from LSU relating to investigations into King, the university denied the requests, citing Kings’ right to privacy.

A few doors down from the Kings Hodges Hall office is the office of Adelaide Russo, who was removed as chair of the French department after reports emerged she knew a graduate student she was supervising , Edouard d’Espalungue d’Arros, had been charged with third-degree rape but was still allowed to work with undergraduates. Russo is also still employed at LSU.

Read the full Louisiana Illuminator story.

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