A Louisiana State University student who claims a school football player raped her last year is speaking out about how the school handled her report and the lack of guidance she said she received throughout the process.
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she → claim → process
Kendall Danielle Francis talked on TikTok about the monthslong Title IX investigation that played out after she reported the October rape to the school.
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she → talk → school
Two days into the current semester, she said, she received an email while she was in class to notify her that the student, who had been suspended for two semesters, had his punishment modified upon appeal to four semesters’ probation.
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who → say → probation
He would remain on campus and could continue to play football, she said.
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she → remain → football
“Now I am just trying to speak on my story, because LSU does really protect their athletes, especially their football players,” Francis, who was 18 at the time of the alleged incident, said in the Sept. 14 social media post.
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who → try → post
As a result of the student’s remaining on campus, Francis said, she moved her classes online.
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she → remain → classes
Francis wasn’t aware that filing the Title IX complaint was a separate process from filing criminal charges, a spokesperson for Francis said Wednesday.
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spokesperson → file → Francis
“When she filed for Title IX, they [the university] did not tell her she could also contact the police and have them launch a criminal investigation,” a spokesperson said.
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spokesperson → file → investigation
“She just assumed LSU would do the criminal investigation.”
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LSU → assume → investigation
Francis’ post, however, caught the attention of East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore, whose office announced it was launching a criminal investigation.
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it → catch → investigation
He has requested “all reports, interviews, evidence, and other relevant records” from LSU, the university police and the Baton Rouge Police Department, as well as the coroner’s office, which handles the evidence collection from sexual assault victims.
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which → request → victims
“This is now an open criminal investigation,” Moore said Sept. 22 in a statement on his agency’s Facebook page.
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Moore → say → page
Francis’ allegations come as accusations that members of a fraternity gang-raped a female Cornell University student for several hours have renewed questions nationwide about whether universities are doing enough to protect students from sexual assault.
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universities → come → assault
LSU President Wade Rousse said in a statement that the university is cooperating with investigators.
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university → say → investigators
“Let me assure everyone that this incident has been handled professionally and that LSU has strictly followed our policies, procedures and best practices, including the Title IX process, to guide our actions to date,” Rousse said.
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Rousse → let → date
Title IX is a federal law that requires all universities that receive federal funds to put safeguards in place to protect students from sexual predators.
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that → require → predators
Francis didn’t respond to several reach-outs from NBC News to discuss her online allegations or share the findings of the Title IX investigation.
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Francis → respond → investigation
In her TikTok video, Francis said she was assaulted at around 4:30 a.m. Oct. 18 “by a football player at LSU.”
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she → say → LSU
“That day basically changed my life,” she said, adding that she “developed pretty severe anxiety” and that after an official diagnosis she began taking medication to manage it.
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she → change → it
Francis said that she was taken to the hospital, where she had “a rape kit done,” but that she didn’t initially press charges.
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she → say → charges
“However, I did go through the Title IX process here at LSU, which took a really, really long time,” she said.
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she → go → time
Francis said she returned to school assuming the football player was suspended and under investigation by the police.
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player → say → police
She said she was in a class when she was notified via email that the alleged attacker was still “accountable” for the rape and would be on probation and allowed to attend classes on campus and play football.
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attacker → say → football
“I was under the impression that because LSU found him responsible that LSU would do their part, that criminal charges, you know, would be pursued,” Francis said in an interview last week with WAFB-TV of Baton Rouge.
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Francis → find → Rouge
Universities are generally not required to automatically alert the police when a Title IX sexual assault or rape investigation is underway, especially if the survivor requests confidentiality or chooses not to involve law enforcement.
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survivor → require → enforcement
Francis said in a second TikTok post that she reported the alleged rape this month to LSU police in an attempt to press charges.
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she → say → charges
NBC News has reached out to the agency to confirm that, but so far there has been no response.
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News → reach → that
The Baton Rouge-based newspaper The Advocate reported that it had obtained the Title IX documents from the case and that they confirm Francis’ assertion that the football player was found responsible for the rape.
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player → base → rape
Those documents, according to the newspaper, also confirm that his punishment was reduced on appeal from a two-semester suspension to four semesters of probation.
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punishment → accord → probation
Some of the sexual activity between Francis and the football player was consensual, according to those documents as reported by The Advocate.
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Some → accord → Advocate
Still, the football player admitted that he didn’t specifically ask for Francis’ consent before they had intercourse “and did not stop when he later asked and she was silent,” according to the Title IX documents.
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she → admit → documents
Casper Sunstrom, an LSU spokesperson, didn’t confirm the outcome of the Title IX proceedings or the discipline that was handed down to the student.
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that → confirm → student
Nor did she respond to questions about whether the football player was at LSU and playing for the team.
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player → respond → team
“Since there was no criminal complaint filed by the victim, LSU appropriately turned the issue over to our Title IX office as mandated by law,” Sunstrom said in an email.
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Sunstrom → be → email
But she noted that the football player did “self-report” an incident involving his accuser with the LSU Police Department.
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player → note → Department
Dated Oct. 18, 2025, the report, obtained from LSU via a public records request, said the 19-year-old football player was at the school’s football facility when he called police “due to concerns about potential accusations from the other party.”
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he → date → party
The report gave no indication what those potential accusations were.
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accusations → give → indication
The incident report says the football player told police that Francis had told him she was mentally unwell and had “thoughts of suicidal ideation.”
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she → say → ideation
The responding officer noted in the report that police had been in touch with Francis four days earlier, on Oct. 14, “regarding a similar incident.”
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police → respond → incident
An officer determined that Francis posed no danger to herself and “seemed to be commenting out of spite.”
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Francis → determine → spite
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
