MU System spends thousands on campus sexual assault investigation

The University of Missouri System spent more than $100,000 on an investigation into a campus sexual assault.

ABC 17 News submitted a sunshine request for the University’s contract with the law firm they hired in February to determine if they school appropriately handled allegations of a sexual assault from a former student.

In 2011, MU swimmer Sasha Menu Courey committed suicide after claiming she was sexually assaulted by a football player a year earlier.

Some of the lawyers hired were making nearly $500 an hour.

During the 2 month investigation, the University paid the Dowd Bennett law firm at least $120,000.

The University of Missouri System’s contract with the firm shows what each of the 5 attorneys on the investigative team made an hour.

The highest paid lawyer on the team made $485 an hour.

The lowest paid attorney made $200 an hour.

The contract also said the firm would not hand the school a bill for more than $120,000 for their work, but that doesn’t include some extra fees MU had to pay.

On top of that initial payment, the System had to cover the costs for the team to travel, send mail, faxes, an outside messenger service, long distance phone calls, and overtime if required.

Right now, the cost of those expenses are unclear.

In April, the firm released their findings saying the University administrators in Columbia should have investigated Sasha Menu Courey’s 2011 suicide sooner.

Chancellor Bowin Loftin said he’s prepared to make the school “accountable and responsible.”