Kendall Francis says LSU failed to protect her after an appeal reduced the football player’s suspension to disciplinary probation.
BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana State University student who says a football player raped her in a campus residence hall is publicly questioning the university’s response after its Title IX process found the player responsible for sexual assault but an appeal reduced his suspension to probation.
Kendall Francis, 19, has identified LSU defensive end Damien Shanklin as the student she says assaulted her on Oct. 18, 2025. LSU’s administrative investigation later found Shanklin responsible for sexual assault classified as forcible rape, according to university records described by multiple news organizations. The finding did not amount to a criminal conviction, and Shanklin has not been publicly charged with a crime. His attorneys say he maintains his innocence and is cooperating with an ongoing criminal investigation.
Francis told CBS News that before going to Shanklin’s residence hall, she told him during a FaceTime call that she did not intend to have sex. Both told investigators that some sexual activity was consensual, but their accounts differed over what happened afterward. Francis said she repeatedly refused intercourse and tried to push Shanklin away. Shanklin told investigators that he asked whether she wanted him to stop and continued when he received no response, according to reporting based on police and university records.
Francis said she confronted Shanklin after the encounter and later told him she was considering going to a hospital for a sexual assault examination. LSU Police responded and took Francis to a hospital, where she has said she spent about seven hours. She filed a formal Title IX complaint with LSU in January 2026. The university process is separate from a criminal investigation and uses its own rules and standards for determining whether university policies were violated.
LSU’s Office of Civil Rights and Title IX eventually found Shanklin responsible for sexual assault and forcible rape and imposed a two-semester suspension that would have kept him away from school and campus activities. Shanklin appealed. The responsibility finding remained in place, but an administrative law judge modified the sanction to four semesters of disciplinary probation without restrictions. The change allowed him to remain on campus and eligible for university activities.
Francis has said the reduced punishment intensified her anxiety because she feared encountering Shanklin on campus. She told WAFB that the experience affected her mental health and academic performance and said she eventually moved her classes online. She also said she initially believed LSU’s finding would lead to criminal charges and did not understand that the university’s Title IX process and the criminal justice system operated separately.
Francis began discussing the case publicly in September, including in videos posted to TikTok. She later asked law enforcement to pursue criminal charges. East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said his office requested reports, interviews, evidence and other records from LSU, LSU Police, Baton Rouge Police, the parish coroner’s office and other agencies with information about the case. LSU Police also has described the matter as an ongoing investigation.
Shanklin’s attorneys, Grant L. Willis and Morgan H. Johnson, have said public accounts do not contain all the facts and circumstances of the case. They said Shanklin looks forward to the full record becoming public. LSU has said it followed its policies, procedures and best practices during the Title IX process and is cooperating with law enforcement. The university administrative finding and the criminal investigation are separate proceedings, and the Title IX determination does not establish criminal guilt.
The case has also drawn attention from Louisiana lawmakers. State Rep. Vanessa Caston LaFleur has said she wants lawmakers to examine the Title IX process, while broader questions about how colleges report sexual violence and handle appeals have been raised at the state level. Francis has said her concern is not limited to the allegation itself but also includes the university’s handling of the case after it found a policy violation.
As of Oct. 21, no arrest, indictment or criminal charge against Shanklin had been publicly announced. He remained listed on LSU’s football roster but had not played this season, according to recent reporting. The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office and LSU Police continued to investigate the allegation.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.