When a university Title IX panel finds an athlete responsible for forcible rape, the logical expectation is swift, uncompromising discipline. At Louisiana State University, the opposite happened.
LSU's Office of Civil Rights and Title IX originally substantiated a forcible rape allegation against football player Damien Shanklin following an incident that occurred last October. The initial hearing panel slapped him with a suspension covering two semesters. But instead of letting the discipline stick, an appeal process quietly dismantled the penalty. Shanklin's punishment got reduced to four semesters of probation, a slap on the wrist that cleared the way for him to stay on campus and keep playing football.
That administrative turnaround has now triggered a criminal investigation by East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore.
How Institutional Disconnect Fails Victims
The public outcry isn't just about football priorities overriding basic safety. It exposes a massive structural flaw in how universities handle sexual misconduct reports.
When the student complainant, Kendall Francis, went through the campus Title IX process, she operated under a dangerous assumption shared by many victims. She thought filing an institutional report and having the school find the perpetrator responsible meant the criminal justice system was automatically working in tandem.
Universities rarely make this distinction clear. Francis later learned that campus proceedings and criminal complaints are entirely separate tracks. Because she didn't realize campus panels operate in a vacuum with limited legal authority, critical time elapsed before a formal criminal complaint entered the pipeline.
This gap leaves survivors vulnerable. Francis moved her classes entirely online to avoid crossing paths with her alleged attacker on campus. Meanwhile, sports programs keep prioritizing athletic eligibility, banking on confidentiality and internal appeals to sanitize major disciplinary issues.
The D.A. Steps In While LSU Defends Its Playbook
District Attorney Hillar Moore stepped into the vacuum on September 22, requesting complete investigative files, campus police records, coroner findings, and interview transcripts from LSU, local police departments, and parish agencies.
An open criminal investigation is now underway, though no formal charges have been filed against Shanklin yet. Attorneys representing Shanklin issued statements urging the public to withhold judgment and avoid jumping to conclusions based on incomplete media narratives, emphasizing that the full scope of facts isn't public.
On the institutional side, LSU President Wade Rousse defended the university's handling of the situation. Rousse insisted that campus leadership strictly adhered to established policies, procedures, and Title IX guidelines, while offering full cooperation with law enforcement officials.
That defense rings hollow for critics and lawmakers who see a recurring pattern of athletic protectionism in college sports. State Representative Vanessa Caston LaFleur has called for a wider legislative review of what happens after universities substantiate sexual misconduct claims, questioning whether current protocols adequately protect students or leave them in the dark about administrative loopholes.
What Needs to Change Right Now
If higher education institutions want to restore any shred of credibility when handling campus sexual assault, standard operating procedures require immediate overhaul.
First, transparency must replace administrative secrecy. When a Title IX hearing panel determines an athlete or any student is responsible for a violent crime like forcible rape, internal appeals shouldn't possess the power to quietly downgrade suspensions into light probation behind closed doors.
Second, universities must stop functioning as quasi-courts operating parallel to actual law enforcement. Clear, mandatory protocols should dictate that substantiated felony-level findings trigger immediate notification and file-sharing with local district attorneys, rather than waiting for victims to navigate two entirely separate systems blindfolded.
The investigation by the East Baton Rouge Parish D.A. will decide if criminal charges materialize. But the underlying rot in institutional accountability remains an ongoing crisis across college athletics. Winning games cannot eclipse basic safety, and until universities face real legal and financial consequences for reducing penalties to save a roster spot, nothing will truly change.
