San Jose State settles for $3.3 million with former athletes over sexual abuse allegations
San Jose State has announced that it reached a $3.3-million settlement with 15 former student athletes who were reportedly sexually harassed by a longtime sports trainer.
The payout follows a federal civil rights investigation that found San Jose State did not take adequate action in response to the athletes’ reports and retaliated against two employees who raised repeated concerns to the university about Scott Shaw, the former trainer and director of sports medicine.
Allegations against Shaw date to December 2009, when several female student athletes reported that the trainer had touched their breasts, groins, buttocks and/or pubic areas during treatment that was described to them as “trigger-point therapy” or “pressure-point therapy,” according to a report released in September by the U.S. Justice Department. Former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was accused of similar abuse.
As recently as February 2020, a student alleged improper touching by Shaw, but he continued to work at the university until he retired in August 2020.
Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-22/san-jose-state-settles-with-former-athletes-sexual-abuse-allegations