Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Content note: This article includes mentions of sexual assault.

A former Syracuse University student filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Syracuse University and its Board of Trustees, claiming SU improperly hired and supervised Conrad Mainwaring, which caused the plaintiff and other individuals to be abused by Mainwaring.

Filed under the Adult Survivors Act in New York Federal Court, the lawsuit claims the university and the board ignored signs of predatory behavior from Mainwaring. Mainwaring, who participated in the 1976 Olympics, worked as a resident advisor at SU and aided with SU’s track and field team.

The lawsuit accuses the university of allowing Mainwaring to use his positions on campus to gain “unfettered access to students, prospective students, visitors and children without necessary supervision and training.”

SU and the board had the “power and duty” to intervene and stop the improper conduct but “negligently failed” to stop or prevent it, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims the plaintiff was sexually abused by Mainwaring around 1981, when the plaintiff was approximately 17 years old.

A university spokesperson told The Daily Orange the university does not comment on pending litigation, per university policy.

The plaintiff previously filed a lawsuit in 2020 against Mainwaring accusing him of sexually abusing the plaintiff while they toured the campus in or around the fall of 1981. The plaintiff alleges that Mainwaring lured the plaintiff into his dorm room located in Brewster-Boland Hall and touched the plaintiff’s genitals.

The plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from SU and the Board of Trustees, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiff has incurred medical expenses and other economic damages, and the lawsuit claims the plaintiff is obligated to spend money on medical care to cure the plaintiff of injuries and alleviate suffering and emotional distress.

On Tuesday, a male former SU student filed a lawsuit also accusing the university of negligence for ignoring Mainwaring’s predatory behavior and allowing Mainwaring to use his position of power and trust to sexually assault, abuse and molest other male students during his time as a dorm counselor in the formerly all-male Brewster Hall.

At least 41 men have accused Mainwaring of abusing them, according to a 2019 ESPN investigation of Mainwaring. Mainwaring has been accused of molesting or abusing at least seven other SU students and at least 14 men in the greater Syracuse area, where he lived between 1980 and 1985.

Published on November 26, 2023 at 9:58 pm

Contact Dominic: dcchiapp@syr.edu | @DominicChiappo2