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Alyssa Bodeau, 27, said she filed an official
complaint against Gesser with the school's Office for Equal
Opportunity on Monday, according to The Spokesman-Review
newspaper in Spokane, Wash.
Bodeau said she was emboldened to speak up about her encounter
with Gesser, which she said happened in June 2015, after news
accounts surfaced last week about other women having made
similar accusations against him.
The earlier allegations were reported by Washington State's
student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen. The report said that
numerous women, including student interns and Gesser's
coworkers, had made the allegations, but that the Office for
Equal Opportunity investigated in 2017 and cleared him of
wrongdoing.
"This is new information and a different set of events than
previously reported," said Kimberly Anderson, executive director
of the Officer for Equal Opportunity. "In accordance with
standard WSU practice ... Mr. Gesser was placed on home
assignment pending a full investigation into the allegations."
Late last week, Gesser, perhaps best remembered for leading the
Cougars to the Rose Bowl in 2003, called the earlier allegations
a "non-story." The Spokesman-Review said Gesser did not
immediately respond to a request for a comment on Monday. Gesser
has been working as an assistant athletic director for the
Cougar Athletic Fund.
"When other girls came forward, it changed the game," said
Bodeau. "When I saw that it was a pattern, that's when I
decided, ‘I'm not going to stay quiet.' If it doesn't stop now
... other girls will be in danger."
--Field Level Media
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