Webber International University, a partner of the now-shuttered St. Andrews University in North Carolina, said it reached a settlement with a former student who accused the schools of mishandling a rape investigation.
The student, identified in court documents as Jane Doe and a member of St. Andrews’ women’s soccer team, sued the universities in 2022. The lawsuit, filed in Scotland County Superior Court, alleged negligence after Doe reported that she was sexually assaulted by a member of the school’s men’s soccer team.
Doe dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice in July, meaning she could not refile the claim. Such dismissals are common when a case is settled out of court.
Joe Strickler, chairman of Webber International’s Board of Trustees, said the school agreed to a settlement earlier this year. He declined to discuss details of the agreement, including how much the school paid.
“I can’t tell you exactly when we did this, but I just know a document came to my table settling the case, and I signed it,” he said.
It’s unclear if Webber was the only defendant that settled. The lawsuit also named former St. Andrews president Ellen Bernhardt and three other St. Andrews employees: Mary Cross, director of housing and residence life; Elizabeth Hernandez, dean of students and Title IV coordinator; and Ash Walker, assistant professor of sport performance, health and fitness. It also named Everglades College, which employed Bernhardt and served as a consultant to St. Andrews.
St. Andrews, which opened in Laurinburg in 1961, abruptly closed last May amid financial struggles. Enrollment was stagnant with fewer than 1,000 students, and the school faced significant debt. St. Andrews merged with Florida-based Webber International in 2011, but the partnership wasn’t enough to save the school.
Scotland Development Corporation, which owns most of the St. Andrews campus, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February.
The Investigation
Doe reported that she was raped in a dorm room by Paulo Manzoni, a student and soccer player from Italy, on September 25, 2021. In the days that followed, the lawsuit says, St. Andrews staff caused Doe additional trauma by questioning her credibility and failing to provide adequate support.
Doe reported the alleged rape to an assistant women’s soccer coach, who took her to speak with Hernandez, who was married to the head coach of the men’s soccer team.
Days later, Bernhardt reportedly told an assembly of students and staff that she wanted to explain “the difference between fact, fiction, and rumor.” A Laurinburg police officer then spoke about the dangers of making false accusations, according to the lawsuit.
Police charged Manzoni with second-degree forcible sexual offense the day after Doe reported the incident; he returned to Italy before the case was adjudicated. But the university allowed Manzoni to remain on campus during its investigation on the condition that he maintained a mutual no-contact order with Doe.
Emilia Beskind, a Durham-based attorney for Doe, argued before a judge in April 2025 that St. Andrews should have suspended Manzoni during the investigation, a common practice under Title IX, the federal law that protects against discrimination and sexual harassment.
“Instead of focusing on how to protect students from the person charged with violent sexual felonies,” Beskind said, “Defendant Bernhardt concluded that supposed rumors on the small campus had become the real threat to student safety, and to St. Andrews’ reputation.”
When another member of the women’s soccer team posted to social media a photo of Manzoni with the words “say his name,” St. Andrews’ faculty told Doe that she had violated the no-contact order, the lawsuit says, but was never told how and why the action defied the agreement. The head coach of the women’s soccer team suspended several members of the team after the post, including the teammate who made the post.
Two days after the reported rape, Manzoni said he was assaulted by male students who broke his cellphone. Hours later, at 2 a.m., a faculty member banged on Doe’s dorm room and escorted her to meet with a Laurinburg police detective who “interrogated” her, according to the lawsuit.
Beskind said recently that the case reached a conclusion, but she declined to elaborate. “All I’m able to say is that the matter has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties,” she said.
Separate Sexual Assault Cases
Less than a year and a half after Doe reported that she was raped, three other St. Andrews students accused another student-athlete at the school of sexually assaulting them between October 2022 and January 2023.
Mison Mickle, a member of the wrestling team, pleaded guilty in 2024 to two counts of second-degree forcible rape, one count of second-degree forcible sex offense, and one count of attempted second-degree forcible sex offense. He was sentenced to serve up to nearly 12 years in prison.
The case brought additional scrutiny to St. Andrews, which had ramped up its sports programs in an effort to boost enrollment.
Mickle was a registered sex offender in his home state of South Carolina, but he failed to register when he moved to North Carolina. While serving in the Army, he was convicted by a military judge at Fort Lee, Virginia, in 2020 of three counts of attempted abusive sexual contact and three counts of assault consummated by a battery, records show. He was ordered to serve 12 months behind bars and was dishonorably discharged.