Three more women have sued the Louisiana Board of Regents and the systems for LSU and the University of Louisiana, saying they were sexually assaulted by the same man between 2015 and 2021 and that university officials failed to intervene, our media partners at The Advocate report.
Their lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, is the second in recent months to focus on how universities handled reports against Victor Daniel Silva, a 2020 UL graduate, the newspaper is reporting.
According to The Advocate, Silva racked up sexual assault allegations at LSU, UL and Louisiana Tech — schools he attended between 2014 and 2020. But none of those universities bothered to warn one another about his behavior as he transferred between them, the plaintiffs charge. When Silva would face a sexual misconduct allegation at one university, he was able to easily enroll at another and resume his problematic behavior, the lawsuit alleges.
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The attorneys representing the victims sent out a release Thursday afternoon stating that, "in addition to detailing the repeated failures from officials including the current presidents of Louisiana State University (LSU), Louisiana Tech and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as well as former Lafayette Police Chief Thomas Glover, the lawsuit calls out the defendants for violating Act 172, a 2015 state law expressly designed to prevent sexual abuse on college campuses by mandating communication, cross-training and coordination between Louisiana’s public post-secondary institutions and law enforcement."
“These individuals and institutions didn’t just ignore the law,” said attorney Bakari Sellers. “They propped up a culture of silence that created an ideal hunting ground for sexual predators like Victor Silva and these women paid the price.”
UPDATE: Glover did not become Chief of Lafayette Police until January 2021. Silva last attended UL in 2020, and the Lafayette allegations against him occurred prior to Glover taking office as Chief.
