On Friday, 74-year-old grandmother Gloria Scott testified before state lawmakers about the December 2017 incident in which then LSU star running back Derrius Guice harassed her while she sat at her security post inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where she worked part-time for the New Orleans Saints, and on this day was working the state high school football playoffs.
As reported by USA Today, Scott testified that Guice and friends approached Scott at Elevator 8 in the stadium's Bunker G, before Guice said the following: “I like to f--- women like you, you older women, because y'all know y'all like us young men to f--- y'all. And, you know you want this body.” As he said this, a grinning Guice was rubbing his own body, including his genitals. This continued for minutes, despite Scott's instructions for them to leave her alone.
Scott complained to LSU athletic department administrators, the school’s student accountability director, and directly to Guice’s head coach, Ed Orgeron — but nothing happened, according to Scott. Guice was never disciplined by the school, despite being accused of sexual misconduct three times before this incident, according to USA Today.
She remained silent for years until her episode of victimization surfaced in the 148-page Husch Blackwell report on Louisiana State University athletics released earlier this month.
Administrators told Scott that Guice was probably just kidding, that he came from a broken home and that she should just accept his apology. When she demanded he face discipline by sitting out the 2017 Citrus Bowl, Scott said school officials ignored her and then ultimately called her to say nothing would happen, USA Today reported. It was her word against his.
“I felt that not playing in that game would hurt him more than anything,” Scott told USA Today. “Because if it was my son or my grandsons, and I knew he did that, and they were playing sports, I personally myself would make sure they didn’t play.
“I didn’t think I was asking too much.”
LSU had hired Husch Blackwell in November to investigate its handling of sexual misconduct cases, in response to investigative reporting by USA Today.
Scott choked back tears Friday as she testified before the Louisiana Senate Select Committee on Women and Children about the incident and the school’s handling of it. The committee has been holding hearings on the school’s failure to comply with Title IX requirements to report and investigate incidents of sexual misconduct.
“December this year is going to be four years ago it happened,” Scott told USA Today. “It’s just like it was yesterday. I don't know, maybe I might not never get over this until I die. And I'm serious.”
In his interview with Husch Blackwell, Orgeron denied having direct communications with Scott. Orgeron said senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar “told us about the incident,” and Segar, deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry and an attorney for the Baton Rouge law firm Taylor Porter “did an investigation.”
Orgeron lied to investigators about not speaking to Scott, she and her granddaughter told USA Today. The granddaughter, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation by her employer, said she was listening when Orgeron talked to her grandmother on speakerphone.
“Coach O is telling a lie,” Scott said. “He's not telling the truth. I don't have no reason to lie. I know who I was talking to. He knows he talked to me.”
Husch Blackwell investigators did not contact Scott about her complaint, nor was she aware that LSU had documented it. She learned about it after her granddaughter saw a reference to it on Twitter and recognized the unnamed 70-year-old woman in the report as her grandmother.
As shocking as this incident was, it represented the second encounter between Scott and Guice. In September of that same year, Guice was slow to vacate the Superdome at Scott's request after LSU hosted Brigham Young there.
