Executive associate athletics director Meredith Jenkins, who also serves as Auburn Athletics' senior women's administrator, has been removed from her position as a Title IX deputy coordinator.
Jenkins had been heavily involved in the handling of sexual harassment allegations against former softball assistant head coach Corey Myers and head coach Clint Myers.
A University spokesperson confirmed Jenkin's removal Wednesday morning. She is no longer listed on the University's Title IX page and has been replaced by senior associate athletics director David Mines.
Jenkins' removal as one of the University's two deputy Title IX coordinator comes just weeks after a reports surfaced that a former Auburn softball player, Alexa Nemeth, had filed a Title IX complaint
Auburn Athletics officials were made aware of accusations against then-head coach Clint Myers and his son, former associate head coach Corey Myers, at least as early as September 2016, when several team members filed anonymous ethics complaints against the younger Myers.
Despite the complaint, the younger Myers stayed with the softball program until March 2017 when he was allowed to resign, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
An internal investigation was launched when those anonymous complaints were filed, but the University has said it was hesitant to remove anyone based on anonymous complaints.
"In this case, the combination of an anonymous report, the
Those accusations and a subsequent investigation launched by the University accelerated when Nemeth filed a Title IX discrimination complaint with a University Title IX coordinator, Kelley Taylor, on May 31, which claimed that Clint Myers “knowingly let his son Corey Myers have relations and pursue relations” with at least three different members of the team.
In an interview with The Plainsman, Nemeth said she and other members of the team met with administrators and laid out there concerns, only to be met with responses that ranged from apathetic to dismissive and some were even threatening.
The concerns within the softball program rose to a fever pitch on the night of March 30 ahead of a road series that weekend against Georgia, when Jenkins “quarantined” the softball team for more than three hours over the allegations and talks that were making waves through the softball team, according to the complaint and the interview with Nemeth.
Some players were refusing to board the bus to the road series after discovering what they said was proof of misconduct by the younger Myers.
During the “quarantine” in the team room, neither Jenkins nor the head coach took the players’ concerns seriously, Nemeth said. Instead, Jenkins began threatening the players with possible arrest for illegally obtaining copies of text messages that were proof of an inappropriate relationship initiated by Corey Myers with a member of the softball team.
Several members of the team broke down into tears, Nemeth
“She (Jenkins) made all of us feel extremely bad about what happened even if we weren’t involved,” Nemeth said. “She almost made it out to be our problem that this happened and not the adults in charge.”
The day of the quarantine was the same day the team was informed that Corey Myers. In the press release from the Athletics Department that night, the younger Myers cited prioritizing his family as the main reason for stepping down from his position. He had previously taken a leave of absence in the fall, and, according to University records, was making over $100,000 a year by that point.
The University, in their statement last week, confirmed that Corey Myers left the program after administrators were made aware of the text messages.
"Throughout this matter, Auburn Athletics and the Title IX office took this seriously and acted promptly. As soon as the facts were known,
"Make no mistake – This matter was handled immediately when the facts were obtained. It was handled with the best interest of the students in mind."
Jenkins remains an executive associate athletics director and a senior women's administrator. The University has not responded to several public records requests filed by The Plainsman.
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Chip Brownlee, senior in journalism and political science, is the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.
