The attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit accusing former UK swimming and diving head coach Lars Jorgensen of sexual assault believe that more victims may come forward.
The lawsuit was filed Friday by Briggs Alexander and a woman going only by Jane Doe against Jorgensen, the university, UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart and former swimming head coach Gary Connelly.
Alexander, two of his attorneys and advocate Rachael Denhollander spoke with reporters Wednesday in a virtual press conference to discuss the lawsuit and what they hope will come from it.
Alexander identified as female at the time of the abuse, but has since transitioned to male. He asked that she/her pronouns be used when describing the abuse to align with his identity at that time.
Alexander was 17 years old when she first met Jorgensen and said that the grooming started as soon as she moved to campus, not long after her high school graduation.
“I think that Lars abused me in a lot of different ways,” Alexander said. “Emotionally, spiritually, physically, sexually, and he did so under the guise of, he was doing what was best for me.”
The abuse culminated in multiple instances of rape, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit states that Jorgensen also groomed and sexually assaulted Jane Doe.
“In hearing about this case and particularly the allegations, the severity of these allegations, and the significant amount of time that coach Jorgensen was the head coach at the University of Kentucky, we are convinced and have reason to believe that there are more victims and that there are witnesses out there,” said Megan Bonanni, one of the attorneys representing Alexander and Doe.
‘Institutional failures’
Bonanni said that, to her knowledge, the allegations in the lawsuit have not been brought to law enforcement.
Alexander said that at the time of the abuse, Jorgensen made her feel that she wouldn’t be believed if she came forward and that Jorgensen was well-connected. So, she went to the university’s Title IX office.
“I thought I could trust them. I went to them and I disclosed my abuse and thought that it was being taken care of and months went by, I never heard anything back,” Alexander said. “I was just repeatedly discouraged and vigorously discouraged to not come forward.”
Denhollander spoke to an issue she sees at the center of cases of sexual abuse within universities.
“Until we can deal with the institutional failures that allowed a predator like Lars and all of these other predators that have come before him in these other universities, until we can deal with those institutional failures, you might be able to get one coach out of the way, but you can’t do anything about the person who rises to take his place,” Denhollander said.
Denhollander said UK needs to do an assessment of their policies, culture and practices to see what went wrong.
“We can’t protect the next generation until we are honest about what went wrong,” Denhollander said.
A University of Kentucky spokesman released a previous statement on the allegations, saying the university couldn’t comment on personnel issues but that its issues are taken very seriously as “the welfare and well-being of all of our employees and students is a priority.”
On Wednesday, the university released a different statement, saying in part, “we are distressed to hear the disturbing allegations of sexual assault and criminal behavior by a former University of Kentucky employee. No one should be subject to the kind of abuse described in the civil lawsuit filed Friday.”
The statement also said that the university reached out to law enforcement after the details of the allegations were first reported by The Athletic, and that the university is cooperating with the investigation.
LEX 18 confirmed that UK Police are currently investigating.
During the press conference Wednesday, Alexander said that he decided to come forward after he heard from former teammates about their experiences in the program.
“We go to college to train and to compete at the highest level in our sport because that’s what we wanted to do,” Alexander said. “We didn’t want to do anything except to race in the blue and white.”
Alexander said he hopes that his coming forward will show anyone else who experienced abuse in the program to know it’s safe to come forward and that they can lean on him and the team working with him on the lawsuit.
“Whether you believe in a god, or a universe, or an energy, whatever it may be – I think that we were put on that team together for a reason,” Alexander said. “I think that none of us deserve the environment that was created by our head coach. We were teammates at one point, and I hope that we can be teammates through this.”
