Exactly one year ago today (July 8, 2022)… A former director of the UCLA Spirit Squad, who is seeking to overturn allegations of sexual harassment that led to her dismissal in 2019 after a Title IX investigation into her involvement in allowing some team members to attend a burlesque show in Las Vegas in 2018, believed beforehand that the performance was going to be a Cirque du Soleil-style event, according to her attorneys’ new court documents.
Mollie Vehling, 45, filed a petition in June 2021 in Los Angeles Superior Court against the UC regents and the UCLA Title IX Office, claiming that both entities failed to provide her with a fair Title IX hearing, failed to adhere to legal procedures, and committed a “prejudicial abuse of discretion.”
In response, UCLA issued a statement on Friday, saying, “UCLA remains dedicated to fully supporting the well-being of all our students, and their safety is our primary concern. Once we were made aware of this incident, the university’s Title IX office conducted a comprehensive investigation. UCLA has robust policies and procedures in place to ensure fairness and equity for all parties involved. This process ultimately resulted in Mollie Vehling’s dismissal. The university eagerly anticipates providing a detailed response to her petition in court.”
Vehling’s legal team submitted an opening brief on her behalf on Thursday, preceding an August 30 hearing on her petition before Judge Mary H. Strobel.
Vehling served as the head of the UCLA Spirit Squad for almost twenty years and was placed on leave in December 2018 before being terminated in May 2019.
According to court documents, the Spirit Squad’s responsibilities go beyond cheering and dancing at basketball and football games; they also function as ambassadors for UCLA, cultivating positive relationships with prominent university donors.
The university discovered that Vehling instructed certain squad members to accompany former state Senator Alan Robbins to the “Absinthe” show at Caesars Palace in November 2018, while the team was in Las Vegas for a men’s basketball tournament, in violation of UC’s sexual violence and harassment policies.
Robbins, a UCLA graduate and long-standing donor to the university, served as a Democrat senator representing his Los Angeles-area district from 1974 to 1991.
According to Vehling’s attorneys, she reviewed the Caesar’s Palace website and believed the show was a Cirque du Soleil-type event. Consequently, she sent a GroupMe text to the squad members, offering them the opportunity to attend during their free time.
Vehling’s lawyers state in their court documents that the “Absinthe” show has an age restriction of 18 and older, and all the Spirit Squad members who attended the show were above the age of 18. Furthermore, they assert that there was no nudity involved.
During the performance, the show’s emcee, likely a female performer, made offensive comments towards some late-arriving Spirit Squad members, according to Vehling’s attorneys’ court documents.
Vehling’s lawyers claim that “When notified via text that the students were uncomfortable, Ms. Vehling advised that they should leave immediately with a buddy,” in their court documents. Additionally, they state that Robbins sent an email apologizing for the “Absinthe” show and the negative experience the Spirit Squad had.
In November 2018, UCLA’s Title IX office received reports from several Spirit Squad members who claimed to have experienced harassment during their outing with Robbins, as stated in Vehling’s lawyers’ court documents.
While some female UCLA Spirit Squad members found Robbins to be “creepy” and felt uneasy around him, Vehling’s lawyers argue that his alleged conduct was wrongly utilized to justify the actions taken against Vehling.
Throughout the UCLA Title IX investigation, Vehling was allegedly denied access to her work emails, work phone, and work files, preventing her from providing a response, as Vehling’s lawyers assert in their court documents.
According to Vehling’s lawyers’ court documents, although the majority of students who attended the show did not feel harassed, the Title IX investigator determined that there was “sufficient evidence to conclude that the students, as a whole, felt that the behavior they were subjected to was severe.”
In February 2019, Public Interest Investigations Inc. (PII) was hired by UCLA to investigate the accusations against Robbins, stating that he “had engaged in a pattern of conduct that could be considered harassing, intimidating, and disruptive to University activities, specifically with regard to members of the UCLA student Spirit Squad,” according to Vehling’s lawyers’ court documents.
PII conducted interviews with 11 Spirit Squad members, six UCLA staff members, four third-party witnesses, and had two conversations with Robbins, ultimately concluding that he was “responsible for sexual harassment,” as outlined in Vehling’s lawyers’ court documents.
However, in September 2019, a UCLA administrative vice chancellor overruled PII’s findings, stating that there was no evidence demonstrating that Robbins engaged in unwelcome sexual advances or conduct of a sexual nature in a severe, persistent, or pervasive manner, according to Vehling’s lawyers’ court documents.
“UCLA continued to receive Mr. Robbins as a valued donor and accept his significant donations to the university,” Vehling’s attorneys state in their court documents.
