Four women who filed EEOC complaints alleging they suffered sexual harassment and discrimination at LSU Health Shreveport are calling for Chancellor G.E. Ghali to be removed.
Attorney Allison Jones represents the four high-ranking members of the school. Jones said Ghali allowed a toxic work environment that was hostile to women.
“Under the leadership of Chancellor Ghali the LSU Medical School in Shreveport has a shameful record of condoning offensive, unbecoming, discriminatory, retaliatory, and unequal behavior,” said Jones, who specifically highlighted behavior by administrative employee Dr. Scott Kennedy, alleging his routine harassment of female coworkers was allowed by Ghali.
Jones said her clients hoped to address the situation privately, but instead the LSU Board of Supervisors held an executive session where politicians were invited, but the media and accusers were not allowed to attend.
“The accusers were never heard, their names were made public, and legislators politicized this situation,” said Jones.
An internal investigation by the school looked into the complaints but did not find any Title IX violations. Ghali is currently on leave, but denies the allegations.
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Jen Woerner is one of the accusers. She said this decision wasn’t easy.
“It is about doing the right thing the right way, for the right reasons. We are not politically connected, we can’t hire a PR firm, but we do have the truth,” said Woerner.
The other accusers, Dean of the School of Allied Health Dr. Sharon Dunn, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery Dr. Christina Notarianni, and Director of Academic Affairs Christi Renaudo also spoke at the press conference Wednesday. Dunn said there has to be a change at the top.
“When you work in a toxic environment you have two choices. You can leave or you can stay and try to make it better,” said Dunn.
An LSU Health Shreveport spokesperson responded saying “LSU Health Shreveport does not comment on personnel matters.”
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