3 Nyack College Athletes Sue Over Softball Coach Abuse

Three female student athletes on the Nyack College women’ softball team are suing the school for claims stemming from multiple instances of sexual assault and sexual harassment committed by the college’s former head softball coach, Kurt Ludwigsen.

Earlier this year, Ludwigsen was indicted by a Rockland County grand jury on seven felony counts of coercion, 94 counts of forcible touching, 94 counts of third-degree sexual assault and 2 counts of second-degree harassment.

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Ludwigsen, a New Jersey resident, was fired in March from his job at Nyack College and arrested in April.

The incidents including touching breasts and buttocks and unwanted kissing; and an implied perception that anyone who complained could suffer repercussions made things tough for the members of the team, according to South Nyack-Grandview Police Chief Brent Newbury.

According to the lawsuit:

The complaints allege that Ludwigsen’s outrageous conduct included routinely licking his players’ ears, kissing their lips and faces, slapping their buttocks, grabbing their breasts, directing them to sit on his lap, lying on top of them, commenting about their physical attributes, having sexually explicit conversations with them, inviting a pornographic actress known as Allie Haze to practice and directing students to life counseling sessions with her, directing an underage drinking outing where his players were instructed to dress in cocktail dresses and dance with male strangers and offering to assist players to attain employment in the adult entertainment industry.

The complaints further allege that Nyack College hired and retained Ludwigsen in 2014 notwithstanding publicly available information which indicated that (a) he had left a coaching position with the premier women’s softball program at the University of Arizona; (b) subsequently, he took a non-paying coaching position with an elite girls’ softball team, ages 15 to 18, in California, known as the NorCal Assault; (c) while coaching the NorCal Assault, he was the subject of a criminal investigation for sexual assault and sexual harassment against several of his young female players; and (d) while coaching the NorCal Assault, under the alias “Kurt Vogner,” he also founded and promoted a paid telephone service that linked pornography actresses (including Bree Olson, with whom he was photographed) to their “fans”. Nyack College markets itself as, “New York’s Christian College,” even though the complaints allege that Ludwigsen admitted that he was certainly not a “typical Christian coach.”

The suits also allege that college officials retaliated against the plaintiffs and members of the softball team when they complained about Ludwigsen’s outrageous conduct.

The suits name Ludwigsen as a defendant, and also Nyack College President Michael G. Scales, Nyack College Vice President David C. Jennings, Nyack College Athletic Director Keith Davie, Nyack College Assistant Athletic Director Amanda Aikens and former Nyack College Head Softball Coach Kirsten Lambertson, who served as Assistant Softball Coach during Ludwigsen’s tenure as Head Softball Coach.

The women are suing on grounds of sexual discrimination under Title X and also for negligent hiring and supervision, battery and emotional distress.

The plaintiffs are represented by Todd J. Krouner of Chappaqua.