LSU Can’t Claim Sovereign Immunity to Avoid Discrimination Suit

Louisiana State University waived sovereign immunity from sex discrimination claims by accepting funds under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, and recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent didn’t change that, the Fifth Circuit said Tuesday.

Maxwell Gruver died as a result of fraternity hazing and his parents sued LSU under Title IX, claiming it discriminated against male students by policing hazing in fraternities more leniently than in sororities.

The Fifth Circuit held in 2000 that by accepting Title IX funds it waived sovereign immunity from sex discrimination claims. LSU argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2012 opinion in Nat’l Fed’n ...