Katie Meyer's family 'extremely disappointed' Stanford didn't honor ex-goalie last week
Since the fall semester began, at least a dozen colleges have recognized Katie Meyer, the former Stanford soccer goalie who died by suicide.
Stanford is not among those schools.
On Thursday, the Stanford women's soccer team promoted mental health awareness at its game against Miami in Palo Alto, California. But the team did not honor Meyer, who helped lead Stanford to the 2019 national title and died in 2022.
“The Meyers want to be clear that while they are extremely disappointed in Stanford’s administration and their decision not to honor Katie, they have all the love, respect and support for Katie’s teammates who are now seniors playing in the mental health game," attorney Kim Dougherty, who is representing the Meyers family, told USA TODAY Sports by email.
Stanford did not respond to multiple requests for comment USA TODAY Sports made by email.
Meyer was honored at the team’s mental health awareness game in 2022 and 2023.
In November 2022, the Meyers family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Stanford and the civil matter is being heard in the Superior Court of California in the County of Santa Clara.
Last week, before the mental health awareness game, a Stanford employee said Meyer would not be honored this year.
“We’ll have a similar wellness wall as we’ve had in the past encouraging fans to post notes on how they maintain positive mental health,’’ Tyler Geivett, a senior director of communications in the Stanford athletics department, said by email. ”A few members of the team also filmed short statements promoting mental health awareness and we’ll put together a social media post prior to the match and then air a short video in (the) venue at halftime." Geivett said Stanford's seniors each write Meyer's initials on themselves before each match. "They did not do anything additional for Thursday’s match," he added, referring to the mental health awareness match against Miami.
Katie Meyer honored across nation at other games
For each of the 13 schools that confirmed they honored Meyer, according to Dougherty, the recognition centered around acknowledgement of Katie’s Save, a non-profit foundation started by Meyer’s parents, Steve and Gina Meyer.
A key initiative of the foundation was the effort to ensure college students the right to an adviser when they faced an alleged violation of a school’s code of student conduct.
On Saturday, September 28, 2024, the Katie's Save bill was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom (California).
Meyer’s parents have asserted Stanford provided inadequate support for their daughter during a disciplinary matter they say led to her death.
“Stanford has repeatedly failed to provide student athletes with the necessary support and resources to succeed under the pressures it places on them,’’ Dougherty said. “Putting on a mental health awareness game while refusing to honor Katie Meyer, who lost her life because of Stanford’s mental health ignorance, clearly shows their utter disregard for real life impacts and only serves as lip service. This is very hurtful to the Meyer family, as other universities around the nation continue to recognize Katie, but her own school she loved, will not.”
Source full story in USA Today; September 30, 2024
For more information about Katie's Save initiative, visit: https://www.katiessave.org/