Sports

Former Hofstra Football Manager Alleges Harassment

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) ― A former athletic manager for the Hofstra University football team claims she was repeatedly subjected to sexist comments, including being harassed during the showing of an interracial pornographic movie on a team bus, according to a federal discrimination lawsuit.

Lauren Summa, a 23-year-old graduate student, also claims her complaints to coaches and university officials went unheeded, and that she was dropped from the team's athletic staff after speaking out.

A former Miss Teen Pennsylvania from Mount Lebanon, Pa., Summa claims in the lawsuit that after being hired to work as a team manager -- duties included record-keeping, clearing the practice field of equipment and other small tasks -- she was subjected to sexual harassment "during every bus trip that she made in the 2006 season."

The most egregious episode came on a bus ride home from the team's final game against the University of Massachusetts following a 2-9 season. An assistant coach put a pornographic film on the bus's video player that at one point featured an interracial sex scene, Summa's lawsuit claims.

Players immediately began shouting and yelling obscenities, Summa said, including one who confronted her yelling, "This is what you white women want ..." Soon after complaining, she said the coach turned off the video.

Summa, who was a member of Hofstra's cross-country team as a freshman, describes herself in court papers as an "avid and lifelong football fan" who took the $1,000-a-year job to defray expenses as she attended graduate school after receiving a bachelor's in journalism in May 2006.

She said the harassment began almost immediately after beginning work in August 2006, when players learned that she was dating one of their teammates. She said the harassment began with teammates joking about the player's "lack of suitability for Ms. Summa" and continued with some players making sexual propositions.

She also claimed that the following month, a player mocked her on Facebook, calling her "Miss Piggie" and depicting her in a phony "Wanted" poster.

She said she complained to head coach Dave Cohen, and said despite assurances he would take disciplinary action, nothing happened and the harassment continued.

During an October 2006 bus ride back from a game at the University of Delaware, players locked Summa in the bathroom, she claims. Her lawsuit says when she went to Cohen again, he told her it wasn't serious, and reporting it to campus authorities "would only draw unnecessary attention to the football program."

Hofstra's vice president for university relations, Melissa Connolly, said in a statement the school was "confident that all matters relating to these allegations were handled appropriately" and she would have no further comment because of the litigation.

Cohen said in a statement issued through Connolly's office that he was "very proud of the way we conduct our football program." He also would not comment further because of the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Brooklyn federal court.

Summa, who said she was dropped from the athletic staff in spring 2007, and that an offer to work in the Hofstra's university relations office was rescinded, seeks reinstatement to her job and unspecified monetary damages.

Hofstra, which competes in the Colonial Athletic Association, has sent several players to the National Football League in recent years, including former New York Jets star Wayne Chrebet, the New Orleans Saints' Marques Colston and the Miami Dolphins' Lance Schulters. 

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