Lawsuit: Assaulted Kansas rowers had to cheer football team

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) The University of Kansas' athletic department required female rowers to attend games and encouraged them to socialize with football recruits, according to an amended lawsuit by a former rower who says she was raped by a football player.

The allegations were made in an amended lawsuit filed Tuesday by Dan Curry, an attorney for Daisy Tackett, a former rower who no longer goes to Kansas.

Tackett says she was raped in Jayhawker Towers in fall 2014 and that the university did not follow Title IX, a federal law which prohibits gender-based discrimination in education and requires universities to try and prevent sexual harassment and sexual violence.

''This is our client's way of saying there are more facts out there that support what they're saying and want to make sure they're on paper so everybody can see what they're talking about,'' Curry said of the amended lawsuit, which was filed in response to the university's motion to dismiss the it.

The AP generally doesn't identify victims of alleged sexual assault, but Tackett and rower Sarah McClure, who also says she was sexually assaulted by the same player, have said they want their names used.

''Even two rowers like (Tackett) and Sarah McClure, who had been sexually assaulted by a KU football player, were encouraged and expected to attend and root on the KU football players under KU's policy,'' the lawsuit said.

Curry did not immediately respond to a Lawrence Journal-World (http://bit.ly/2ayBg02 ) inquiry about where that policy can be found. University officials have consistently refused to comment on the lawsuits except to say the school takes all claims of sexual violence seriously.

McClure has said she was attacked in August 2015 by the same man who Tackett accused of raping her. The two women and their parents are also suing the university in Douglas County District Court, claiming the school misled the public by saying student housing was safe. The school has also asked for that lawsuit to be dismissed.

The man accused of rape, who has not been named, was expelled after a four-month investigation by the university concluded he committed the sexual assault. He has not been charged with any crime and nor been sued.

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Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com