By Samuel Rubenfeld
A University graduate student has filed a lawsuit against the University, alleging sexual harassment by the football team during her employment as an assistant athletic manager for the team in 2006 and 2007.
In the complaint, filed Jan. 25, Lauren Summa, a second-year graduate student majoring in speech communications who also earned her bachelor’s degree from the University, claimed she was “subjected to offensive and sexually graphic movies in the presence of howling and taunting students, a male student taunting [Summa] with highly offensive and sexist comments and being locked in a bathroom by a group of male students” during her time working for the team.
As an assistant athletic manager, Summa was in charge of preparing the locker room pre- and post-practice, setting the field up for practice, calling five-minute intervals and cleaning up the field after practice, in addition to other small tasks. She would travel with the team to road games throughout the season, according to the complaint.
Summa was often the only female traveling with the team, the complaint said.
During one of the return trips home from a game, Assistant Coach John Perry put on a film called “Shadowboxer,” which includes a scene involving a white woman masturbating in the presence of a black man. Some African-American players “began shouting and yelling obscenities,” the complaint said.
One turned to Summa and said, “This is what white women want…this [expletive] makes you crazy.”
She asked Perry to turn the film off, and he did, but the players protested, shouting, “We want boobies!” according to the complaint.
Summa reported the incident to Head Coach David Cohen, and she threatened to report it to Public Safety, but he “appeared irritated” and urged Summa not to report it to Public Safety, saying the incident was “not serious” and that it would “only draw unneeded attention to the football team,” the complaint said.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan, Summa’s voice cracked as she recounted the “Shadowboxer” incident. “I can’t even repeat [what happened], because it is too inappropriate.”
Summa, who lives on campus, will continue to attend the University until she graduates, but she will not work for the football team, her attorney said at the press conference.
Summa filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Human Rights after she lost her job due to her complaints to the University’s Equal Employment officer, the suit said. She also lost another job in the office of University Relations after news of her complaint spread, according to the complaint.
“Allegations of this kind are treated with the utmost seriousness and are investigated aggressively by the University,” Melissa Connolly, the vice president for University Relations, wrote in an e-mailed statement. “When these issues were raised, the University responded immediately by conducting a thorough investigation. We are confident that all matters relating to these allegations were handled appropriately. It would be inappropriate to comment further while the matter is being litigated.”
Coach Cohen also released a statement through Connolly: “I’m very proud of the way we conduct our football program and work with our student-athletes and the entire University community. I am confident that we handled this matter appropriately. Because the matter is in court I will have no further comment.”
At the press conference, Summa’s attorney Douglas Wigdor wondered “why he [Coach Cohen] is so proud of a football team that demeaned and sexually harassed Ms. Summa.”
“Hofstra should have known better,” he said.
Assistant News Editor Kimberly Chin contributed reporting to this story.