Verge Ausberry, LSU’s executive deputy athletic director, has stepped down from the university’s presidential selection committee amid questions about the way he and other athletics administrators handled allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct by student athletes.
Following a meeting today of the selection committee, Ausberry sent a letter to committee chair James Williams, saying he was resigning immediately.
“I appreciate having had the opportunity to participate and, obviously remain completely supportive of your most vital efforts, and will provide any outside assistance you might find appropriate,” the letter reads.
Reached by phone, Ausberry told Daily Report the letter speaks for itself but added that no one pressured him to resign and that he didn’t want to distract from the committee’s important job of selecting the next president.
“This is all my own,” Ausberry says. “This is my love for LSU.”
Ausberry was one of 20 members tapped in October to serve on the committee, which has been meeting weekly ever since.
He attended today’s virtual meeting, at which the committee approved a job description of the president’s role and briefly discussed how some committee members have been contacted recently about putting forward the names of potential candidates for the position.
Ausberry said little at the meeting, according to two committee members, who asked not to be identified. No one discussed the athletics department scandal at the committee meeting, those members say.
The athletics department scandal has continued to deepen in the four weeks since USA Today first reported the results of a two-year investigation claiming that LSU administrators repeatedly protected student athletes accused of sexually abusing female students and failed to report the allegations to authorities, while also failing to help and protect the alleged victims.
