"I WOULD FIRE MYSELF": LSU PRESIDENT GALLIGAN TO SENATOR PETERSON
- Lonn Phillips Sullivan
- Mar 16, 2021
- 5 min read
transcribed by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
Below is an exchange between LSU President Tom Galligan & Louisiana Senator Karen Peterson during the Senate Committee Meeting on Sexual Misconduct at LSU on March 11th:
ARE YOU STILL CONFLICTED?
"Senator I've never been conflicted that we need to do a heck of a lot to change and that this is a tremendous institutional failure."
ARE YOU STILL CONFLICTED ABOUT THE ACCOUNTABILITY?
(THE LACK OF ADEQUATE PUNISHMENTS AND ONLY 21 & 30 DAY SUSPENSIONS. PETERSON FOCUSES IN ON MIRIAM SEGAR):
"She'll be in training (while suspended)."
WHAT ABOUT THESE LADIES AND THEIR STORIES? SO YOU'RE CONFLICTED ABOUT WHETHER SHE SHOULD BE AT LSU IN A TRUSTING POSITION? FORGET ALL THE REGULATIONS, THE POLICIES, SHE LISTENED TO STORIES AND IGNORED THEM. LIKE, THAT FUNDAMENTALLY IS WHERE MY CONFLICT IS WITH YOU RIGHT NOW.
"I appreciate that."
I DON'T THINK YOU DO.
"I do appreciate that and I hear it."
DON'T LISTEN TO ME, LISTEN TO ALL THESE STORIES
"I'm looking at you, I'm listening to them."
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM THEN, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT LEADERSHIP....LEAD!
"I need time to process...."
THAT'S PHENOMENAL TO ME...THERE'S A REASON THEY CALL IT THE FLAGSHIP, BECAUSE IT WAVES HIGH ABOVE ALL OTHERS...IT'S SUPPOSED TO ... IT'S NOT WAVING VERY HIGH RIGHT NOW. IT'S EMBARRASSING. IT'S MADE MOST OF US CRY TODAY ALREADY.
"Well, I think we've all cried today. And I don't wanna...well..."
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO PROCESS?
"I still have to process...to me...I have to process what's fair to everybody involved."
NO, SEE THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE WRONG. WE HAVE TO BE FAIR TO THE PEOPLE WHO'VE BEEN ABUSED. AS A LEADER, WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN DISADVANTAGED, THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN WRONGED, THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN ABUSED...WE DON'T HAVE TO PROTECT THE POWERFUL. AND THAT'S WHAT THE PROBLEM IS AROUND HERE, IN THIS BUILDING AND OTHER BUILDINGS, IN INSTITUTIONS, WE'VE ALWAYS TRIED TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE WHO WERE IN POWER. AND THE LITTLE MAN AND THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE POWERLESS DON'T GET A VOICE. BECAUSE OF US. AND I'M PUTTING MYSELF IN THAT POSITION. I'M NOT GONNA LEAVE HERE, IF WE HAVE TO SIT HERE FOR ANOTHER SIX HOURS, LET'S TALK ABOUT IT UNTIL YOU NO LONGER HAVE A CONFLICT.
"Senator I'm not gonna decide, based on this afternoon...without thinking...to just fire someone. If I were to do that, I would fire myself."
IF YOU ARE SO CONFLICTED BASED ON WHAT YOU HEARD TODAY, THAT, NOT JUST THESE TWO LADIES, BUT THESE TWO WHO TRAVELED HERE, HAVING LEFT LOUISIANA, HAVING BEEN IN PAIN, HAVING BEEN WRONGED, IF YOU'RE STILL CONFLICTED AFTER THIS, MAYBE YOU HAVE THE WRONG GIG...
"There are a lot of people I wish I could fire and whether I...."
YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE THE POWER TO FIRE THEM?
"I feel I have the power to fire them...if I were to decide to fire them.....
I think...there are people who think it would be unfair to fire them because of the things that we discussed earlier..."
WHO THINKS THAT? SO YOU DON'T THINK IT NECESSARILY, YOU SAY THERE ARE PEOPLE?
(Galligan gets very animated)
"NO I THINK IT TOO, Or I'd say "FIRE THEM"...we've discuss...we've discussed this previously...we've DISCUSS....WHY...WHY I didn't fire them..we discussed those reasons...we discussed why the policies were unclear...I know you keep telling me "oh the policies the policies the policies were unclear", we discussed that the head football coach...allegedly, I wanna protect myself from liability, allegedly was doing things that the athletic director in two emails recommended he be terminated for...and those recommendations were NOT acted upon by those in the highest positions of authority...so...so ...so there was no notice...and again, you're a lawyer, I'm a lawyer, I'm stuck on this lawyer stuff...that notices the hallmark of due process. So, those are the reasons why I didn't fire. If ya'll think and the board thinks that they should be fired...my board...my board of supervisors comes to me and says "they should be fired" and I disagree with that, then fire me.
BUT DO YOU DISAGREE WITH FIRING THEM, RIGHT NOW? YOU DISAGREE WITH FIRING THEM STILL?
(Galligan aggravated)
"Yes I do, because I think they were both put in positions where they...it was impossible for them.....to not fail..."
THEY WERE JUST...
THEY WERE JUST TOLD, MIRIAM WAS TOLD INFORMATION THAT SHE DIDN'T ACT UPON.
"They were in positions where they could not..."
WHY DID YOU SUSPEND HER? LET ME WORK FROM ANOTHER ANGLE, WHY DID YOU SUSPEND MIRIAM?
"I suspended her because...even though she was subject to the authority of the athletic director, the head football coach, the president of the university, she still didn't take any action when...Les Miles...was...when that investigation was occurring.
WHAT ABOUT THESE INCIDENTS?
"She also reported the incident...uhmm involving Derrius Guice but she did not put Derrius Guice's name into the report. So, because Derrius Guice's name wasn't in the report, what that meant was exactly what Ms. Owne said, what that meant was when subsequent events happened there was no record back to Derrius Guice. Miriam says she "orally told the person" she reported it to...that it was Derrius Guice...but she didn't put his name into it and the person she reported it to didn't put his name into the record...so then what we have is...we have a record of a terrible terrible awful event but there's no mention of Derrius Guice.
SO WHAT YOU JUST TOLD ME IS YOU BELIEVE MIRIAM?
"I believe Miriam told...and it's confirmed th..."
AND YOU BELIEVE MIRIAM'S SIDE OF THE STORY IS WHAT YOU JUST TOLD ME?
"NO NO NO!"
YES YES YES
"I BELIEVE HER ON THAT! It's in the report!"
YET YOU BELIEVE MIRIAM'S SIDE OF THE STORY? BECAUSE WE'RE HEARING ANOTHER SIDE OF THE STORY...WITH...BASED ON THE SURVIVORS.
"I..I don't think we hear another side of this..."
I THINK WE ARE...
"I think we are on the Miriam... on the Miriam report of Derrius Guice... not factually."
transcribed by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
Copyright 2021 Uninterrupted Writings Inc LLC
SHOUTOUTS: So many of you who are backing our Title IX reporting even while it's obvious we'd all rather be talking about football blah blah blah this is real bad shit LSU needs to figure out before it can move forward or we'll have yet another season full of distractions, emotional rollercoasters, massive changes and constant shifts.
We will keep the football content coming like crazy, don't you worry about that, but we also have a duty to these women...and to LSU if you care about the university: reporting the good with the bad...and the everything.
I love LSU...and because I do, I'm questioning the hell outta 'em, right now.
You should, too.
Comments