A federal judge refused Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former Penn State cheerleader who alleged the university stood idly by while her coach relentlessly bullied and harassed her and some of her teammates.
U.S. Middle District of Pennsylvania Chief Judge Matthew Brann has rejected in its entirety Penn State’s argument that ex-coach Heather Bean’s alleged harassment was not based on sex.
The university’s lawyers also argued, unsuccessfully, that the allegations were not serious enough or widespread enough to deprive Kaitlyn Wassel of educational benefits, or that her response was not deliberately indifferent.
In response to one of Penn State’s attempts to support its arguments, Brann wrote that the university had misstated the law with out-of-context quotes. Other academic arguments, Brann writes, were based on similar misrepresentations.
Penn State declined to comment through a spokesperson, which is the university’s general policy when litigation is pending. The university must respond to the lawsuit within 14 days.
Wassel’s lawsuit alleged that the university’s longtime head cheerleader coach humiliated, harassed, discriminated and retaliated against her during her four years at the university.
The harassment, as attorney Andy Shubin described it, was “devastating and all-encompassing.” The 31-page lawsuit also contained similar allegations from four other former cheerleaders.
Wassel, from Maryland, earned a spot on the cheerleader team, part of the Blue Band, when she signed up in 2018. The harassment, she claimed, began almost immediately.
She accused Bean of targeting her and some of her teammates based on “his opinion that their size did not match what a stereotypical woman should look like.” She alleged that Bean deliberately forced her to wear a uniform that was too small and forbade her from exchanging or altering it.
As a result, according to the filing, Wassel developed an eating disorder.
“During virtually every practice session, Bean berated Kaitlyn about her diet, body shape, and the fit of her uniform,” Shubin wrote. “She forced Kaitlyn to wear an ill-fitting uniform to shame her and make her feel like she didn’t fit what a woman should look like – regularly in front of her teammates.”
When Wassel filed a sexual assault complaint against Bean, the lawsuit alleged the coach was “enraged” and berated her. She also claimed the coach refused to report it, ordered her not to report or talk about it, and told her teammates to stay away because she was a “bad person.”
When a lice infestation broke out among the twirling team, Bean reportedly told Wassel that it was her fault because she was “such a whore” and that the team was “lucky she didn’t did not transmit STDs to them.
The suit also alleged that Bean constantly questioned Wassel about his personal, social and sexual life, calling him in the evenings and on weekends to ask for private information.
After a fellow cheerleader filed a formal complaint of discrimination against Bean during Wassel’s sophomore year, the coach allegedly told Wassel she would be kicked off the team or expelled if she ever filed a report.
Wassel’s suit also alleged that Bean ostracized her from the team, having team photos taken only when Wassel was not present and enlisting a teammate to “aggressively” intimidate her. .
According to the lawsuit, Bean told Wassel that she deserved “everything that happened to you” and that “you should think about why you deserved to be bullied and make amends.”
Shubin wrote that Wassel was happy, healthy, well-adjusted and motivated before arriving at Happy Valley, but was driven to panic attacks, sleep problems, anxiety and other symptoms of increasingly serious mental health.
The lawsuit alleged that Bean’s supervisor and Blue Band director Gregory Drane dismissed his complaints and stripped Wassel of his role as team captain the day after a 2021 meeting.
A week after graduating, Wassel and other twirlers and former students who separately filed suit against Bean banded together. A February 2023 letter summarizing a joint investigation said many of the allegations were substantiated and violated university policy.
The report said the university could not substantiate the allegations of sexual discrimination and harassment because “it occurred without the presence of witnesses.”
The university said it could not discipline Bean because she had already resigned in fall 2022 after nearly three decades as cheerleader coach. Bean was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Bean…has accumulated a record of competitive success, including winning national championships for Penn State,” Shubin wrote. “Unfortunately, the University prioritized the prestige that Bean brought to it over the safety and well-being of its students; he valued his reputation over his integrity and Kaitlyn and the other cheerleaders were predictable victims.
The lawsuit claims Penn State violated Title IX — the landmark U.S. law intended to achieve equity between men and women in most facets of education — and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. She is seeking unspecified damages.
