BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Stanford has settled a lawsuit with the family of Katie Meyer, a star soccer player who died by suicide in her dorm after receiving a discipline letter from the university.
As part of the settlement announced today (Jan. 26), Stanford has agreed to provide more support for students going through the discipline process and to launch an initiative focused on student mental health at its Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.
Stanford will also give a new “Katie Meyer Leadership Award” to a student-athlete each year and retire Meyer’s jersey number, 19.
“Stanford and the Meyer family believe that working together on these initiatives will both honor Katie’s indelible legacy and help current and future students in meaningful ways,” the two sides announced today (Jan. 26).
Meyer saved a total of 112 goals in 50 games for Stanford, including two key saves in a championship-game shootout in 2019.
Hundreds of students gathered on the soccer field to mourn the team captain, and she received an outpouring of tributes from the sports world after her death was announced.
Meyer was remembered as a confident and energetic leader and an advocate for women’s sports.
Today’s joint statement didn’t say how much Stanford would pay the Meyer family to drop their case. The settlement ends a long and nasty court battle that was headed for a trial in April.
In their lawsuit, Meyer’s parents accused Stanford of having an overly harsh and unfair discipline process, paired with a lack of support for students.
Meyer was in trouble for allegedly spilling hot coffee on a football player who kissed her freshman teammate in August 2021.
Stanford sent Meyer an email at 7 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2022, indicating that her degree would be put on hold, and that the charge could result in her being expelled.
Meyer, trying to get into Stanford Law School, was found dead in her dorm the next morning with the email open on her computer.
Meyer’s parents sued Stanford in November 2022, seeking at least $10 million.
The university denied responsibility and blamed Meyer’s parents.
“Katie told teachers and classmates that (her parents) put pressure on her to be perfect and that their statements to her and treatment of her had been significant stressors in her life since she was a teen,” Stanford said in a court filing.
The lawsuit roped in Meyer’s friends on the soccer team and dozens of Stanford officials, including former football coach David Shaw.
Stanford accused Meyer’s mother of deleting her text messages, and the Meyers accused Stanford of using an attorney to gather information from Meyer while pretending to support her.
The lawsuit listed seven Stanford students who died by suicide since January 2019: Ziwen Wang, Kelly Catlin, Norah Borus, Rose Wong, Jacob Meisel and Dylan Alexander Simmons.
In 2011, a group of Stanford alumni did a case study called the Student Justice Project that “uncovered systemic misconduct and wrongdoings within Stanford violating the 1997 Student Judicial Charter and students’ due process right,” the lawsuit said.
The Student Justice Project said students should get better legal representation, but Stanford didn’t do anything in response, the lawsuit said.
In 2020, a committee from the Associated Students of Stanford University found the discipline process takes too long — in some cases, months — even for minor violations. The committee suggested speeding up the process, improving transparency and focusing more on education, but Stanford again didn’t follow the recommendations, according to the lawsuit.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a group that advocates for freedom of speech at colleges, made similar findings in 2020 that Stanford’s due process was insufficient, the lawsuit said.
In September, Meyer’s hometown Congresswoman Julie Brownley, D-Thousand Oaks, introduced a bill called “Katie Meyer’s Law” that would require public universities to provide students with an advisor to help them in the discipline process.
Stanford will incorporate the principles of the proposed law into the university discipline process, today’s announcement said.
“Meyer was in trouble for allegedly spilling hot coffee on a football player who kissed her freshman teammate in August 2021.”
Curious if the football player was ever reprimanded, disciplined, confronted etc. by Stanford officials for his unwanted advances to her freshman teammate.
If you recall, the original lawsuit said the football player wasn’t disciplined.
This was such a ridiculous reason to charge a student with suspension. I guess Stanford considers unwanted sexual advances as normal for their football players.