|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
:
Stanford University will launch a new initiative focusing on mental health of student athletes and revise its disciplinary process as part of a settlement with the family of Katie Meyer, a star soccer goalkeeper who died by suicide on campus in 2022.
At the time of her death, Meyer was undergoing a disciplinary hearing for allegedly spilling coffee on a men’s football player who was accused of sexually assaulting a women’s soccer player. Meyer’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the university and its top administrators in 2022, alleging that Stanford had negligently inflicted emotional distress and had failed to safeguard her well-being. The case was scheduled to go to trial this spring, according to court records.
Meyer’s family and Stanford issued a joint statement on Jan. 26 with information about the settlement. The resolution ends a legal saga that lasted three years.
“To honor Katie, Stanford will collaborate with Katie’s family to launch an initiative focused on the mental health and well-being of student-athletes at the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance,” the statement says. “Stanford Athletics will establish the Katie Meyer Leadership Award to be given to an exceptional Stanford student-athlete each year.”
The statement also says the number worn by Meyer, #19, will be retired in recognition of her contributions to Stanford soccer. Additionally, Stanford said it will adopt principles of Katie Meyer’s Law in the university’s Office Community Standards disciplinary process. The law, which was signed in September 2024, allows students at public universities in California to select an adviser to help them navigate the disciplinary process.
Stanford declined to say whether the settlement included a monetary component.
Meyer, who played for Stanford between 2019 and 2022, died on either the evening of Feb. 28 or the early morning of March 1, 2022. Shortly before her death, she received a memo from Stanford’s OCS informing her that a disciplinary hearing would move forward relating to an incident where she allegedly spilled hot coffee on an unidentified football player who allegedly sexually assaulted her teammate.
Meyer maintained throughout that the incident, which occurred on Aug. 28, 2021, was accidental. But the Stanford memo included evidence from a university investigation that suggested Meyer acted intentionally to defend her teammate, in violation of university policy.
A formal complaint had been filed against the football player, the Palo Alto Weekly previously reported. Meyer was the captain of the soccer team at the time.
Meyer’s family filed a lawsuit in November of 2022 stating that the disciplinary process was “overly punitive” and lasted too long. It argued that the “the actions that led to the death of Katie Meyer began and ended with Stanford University.”
Following the lawsuit, Stanford released a statement stating that it “disagree[d] with any assertion that the university is responsible for her death.”
Meyer had aspirations to play for the National Women’s Soccer League and to go to Stanford Law School. She was well known for making several game-winning saves in the overtime penalty kick shootout of the 2019 NCAA Division I championship match against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which Stanford won.
Help is available
Any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal can call 988, the mental health crisis hotline, to speak with a crisis counselor. In Santa Clara County, interpretation is available in 200 languages. Spanish speakers can also call 888-628-9454.
Individuals can also call the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services Call Center at 1-800-704-0900 or chat at 988lifeline.org/chat.
Protesters show up for back-to-back anti-ICE protests in Mountain View, Palo AltoJanuary 24, 2026 3:50 pm
Lane closures planned this weekend for El Camino Real overpass in Mountain ViewJanuary 23, 2026 1:32 pm