Sometimes when your alma mater is in the news, it’s not something to be proud of. This week, I learned of a Title IX lawsuit brought against Penn State by Zara Moss, a student athlete who fenced for the university.
In her suit, Zara accuses head fencing coach Wes Glon of abusing her and other female fencers and the university of failing to address these complaints.
Now a graduate, the All-American fencer alleged that the team was a “hotbed for sexual assault and gender discrimination.” She accuses Glon of subjecting female fencers, including Moss, to physical, verbal and psychological abuse.
“No one pursuing educational or athletic excellence should ever experience abuse for any reason,” said Zara’s lawyer, Chelsea Weaver.*
The lawsuit falls under the banner of Title IX because abuse based on gender disrupts a student’s college years, making it impossible to have an equal educational experience. In many cases, abuse leads its victims to drop out of college or fail to pursue their educational or athletic goals.
A litany of complaints
As an example of the abuse, Zara, once an Olympic hopeful, said that Glon, who has coached at Penn State since 1985, injured her by forcing her to spar against him without protective equipment. Glon struck her as she “sobbed and pleaded with him to stop,” the lawsuit says.
In her sophomore year, Zara suffered an ankle injury, and she says Glon forced her to return to fencing before her injury had healed. In addition, Zara says Glon bullied the female fencers about their weight, but didn’t level the same abuse at male fencers.
“Wes’s conduct towards women fencers was no secret,” her attorney said. “Penn State athletic directors and administrators knew about or had observed Wes’s egregious behavior towards female fencers. But Wes’s prestige, influence, and connections were more important to Penn State than protecting its athletes.”**
Zara says she suffers from an eating disorder, body dysmorphia (a mental health condition), panic attacks and anxiety as a result of the alleged abuse. She’s being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and is under the care of a psychiatrist. She hasn’t fenced for more than a year.
They didn’t learn
After the suit was filed, Penn State put Glon on paid leave. USA Fencing forced him to resign as president of the Central Division of USA Fencing and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit that monitors abuse in Olympic sports, began an investigation.
This is the second time that Glon has been suspended. In August 2021, USA Fencing and SafeSport placed him on a three-year suspension after Jennifer Oldham, a North Carolina fencing club owner and instructor, accused him of failing to act on a sexual misconduct complaint she brought against an assistant fencing coach. She accused George Abashidze of groping and sexually assaulting her on a flight after a national fencing competition in 1917.
Glon was reinstated before the three years were up, after a favorable ruling from an arbitration panel. Oldham’s suit ultimately failed, the judge determining that it didn’t apply because Oldham had no ties to the university. But in 2019, USA Fencing suspended Abashidze, leading Penn State to fire him.
At first, Zara resisted filing a lawsuit, afraid of making life hard for women currently on the team. But she ultimately decided it was worth coming forward.
“Things need to change,” she said.*** “I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anybody else, and the way to do that and to make sure that happens is to tell my story.”
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** Susan Snyder, “Penn State places head fencing coach Wes Glon on paid leave after allegations surface,” The Philadelphia Inquirer (September 12, 2022).
** Matt DiSanto, “Former Penn State Fencer Sues University, Coach Wes Glon for Alleged Abuse,” StateCollege.com (April 12, 2022).
*** Bret Pallotto, “Zara Moss explains why she came forward with allegations of abuse on Penn State’s fencing team,” Centre Daily Times (April 13, 2022).