As a petite Cuban American with dark hair and curves, Trujillo learned quickly on the 2013 team that she didn’t fit the standard Song Girls image. Still, she said she was shocked the next year when she was cut from the team. When Trujillo asked the coach for an explanation of the decision made by a panel of judges who took Nelson’s opinion into consideration, Trujillo said Nelson offered no critiques of her dance skills.

Nelson and an advisor said she could put Trujillo in contact with a nutritionist.

“Lori told me, ‘The only thing I can think of is because of your appearance,’” Trujillo recalled.

Trujillo, a classically trained ballet dancer, met with a nutritionist every week for months, paying thousands of dollars for meal and workout planning. Even after she lost weight, she said, Nelson wouldn’t take her back.

“It led me to compulsive exercising, to dieting, to spending a lot of money on a nutritionist,” Trujillo said. “I did all of these things all the way up until I didn’t know who I was anymore. That was the worst part.”

Within the team, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks were common. When one former Song Girl on a recent squad confided in the coach that she was dealing with depression, “Lori just told me to follow mental health influencers on Instagram,” she said. The former Song Girl’s mother told The Times her daughter told her about the conversation when it took place and that she remained upset about the lack of support the school provided for her daughter.

Eight of 10 women The Times interviewed sought counseling. One former Song Girl recalled a USC campus therapist saying in 2013 that “we get a lot of you coming through here.” Another former Song Girl recalled her teammate discussing the therapist’s response.

Many former Song Girls said they tried to approach Nelson with their concerns while they were a part of the program. But she was rarely receptive. Often, she avoided confrontation altogether.

“She would smile,” one former Song Girl said. “She would be polite, and she would say whatever she needed to say to appease you. Then, you’d find out that she was gossiping to other girls on the team about you and how she doesn’t like you anymore or you’re causing problems. She just instilled this fear.”

The women said that, soon after they joined the team, Nelson and team leaders began subtle criticism of their appearances, often with pointed suggestions.

When Nelson asked Bullen to consider hair extensions, she agreed, convincing her parents to purchase them as a Christmas present. Some newcomers were asked to cut their hair. Others were asked to color it — sometimes multiple times. One newcomer from a different team, according to two fellow Song Girls, was asked to dye her hair blond so many times it started to fall out.

Other beauty practices were established early on. A former Song Girl told The Times both team leaders and Nelson instructed them to buy a specific Victoria’s Secret padded push-up bra, which advertised that it added two cup sizes.

Makeup was a must wherever they went — or in whatever content they posted on social media. Two former Song Girls recalled Nelson or a team captain asking them to delete Instagram selfies. “If you showed up to class, and you didn’t have makeup on,” Trujillo said, “somehow Lori would find out about it.”

USC Song Girl Josie Bullen

Robakowski says the story wasn’t true and when she confronted Nelson later, sobbing, the coach rejected her denials. The rumor got around to her friends outside the program, including the male USC student who allegedly was involved.

After that, Robakowski said, the coach ignored her or refused to talk to her. “It kind of spiraled out of control from there,” Robakowski told The Times. “… She was telling my best friends to cut me out of their lives.” A former Song Girl told The Times Nelson instructed her to cut negative people from her life and referred to Robakowski as negative.

In February 2020, Robakowski and two other members of the team met with USC athletic director Mike Bohn. The Song Girls are under the purview of a different department, student affairs, but the dancers said they believed Bohn, a newcomer in a separate area of the university, would be more willing to listen to their complaints.

After the meeting, Bohn’s executive assistant wrote an email to Robakowski stating, “We understand how much courage this took.” Three sources told The Times Bohn was concerned enough about the complaints to ask his office to facilitate one of the women seeing a therapist on campus.

Robakowski’s mother, Alisa, reached out to Winston Crisp, USC’s vice president of student affairs, alleging in an email obtained by The Times that her daughter and at least one other person had to seek therapy because of their experience in the program.

“Considering what a long tradition and iconic program Song is, it is absolutely shocking how they are treated,” she wrote.

Alisa Robakowski followed up with a phone call and was directed to others within the university who could help address her concerns.

It took another six months — and repeated prodding from former Song Girls and their families — for a Title IX investigation to be opened, according to emails from USC officials and outside attorneys involved with the case, as well as the accounts of several Song Girls.

Title IX investigators have completed their initial interviews, with eight former Song Girls speaking positively about Nelson and a dozen people sharing negative experiences about the Song Girls program, a source familiar with the investigation told The Times.

Nelson was not among the people interviewed, but a source stated her attorney indicated she would provide responses in writing.

Those who defended Nelson during Title IX interviews considered her a “mother figure” and called any weight issues the product of joining any dance squad that requires its performers to maintain a healthy weight, the source told The Times.

Four women interviewed told investigators Song Girls were expected to fit in their uniforms all year. The Song Girls were not supposed to get “super overweight or underweight and it is literally for your health and safety,” a source relayed to The Times. Four women told investigators this rule was because game day was draining and the women needed a lot of stamina.

The women supportive of Nelson said squads were selected based on talent alone. A source said judges used to pick the squad told investigators they factored Nelson’s comments about the women’s attitudes, behavioral issues and ability to fulfill the team contract into their decisions.

When the latest virtual auditions were held in October 2020, the eight returning Song Girls expected their selection to be a formality. But Nelson, they say, went back on a promise to keep the team intact. Three returners, including Robakowski’s younger sister Bella, were cut without warning.

Days later, Title IX investigators presented Nelson with the testimony of multiple Song Girls. On Oct. 29, the team was informed Nelson was placed on administrative leave.

Less than a week later, Mike Munson, the associate director of recreational sports at USC and Nelson’s direct supervisor, informed the team of her resignation during an emergency Zoom meeting. He offered no explanation and did not mention the ongoing Title IX investigation.

The Robakowskis and several current Song Girls petitioned to have Bella and the two others added back to the team. Initially, they were told a decision would be reached after the Title IX investigation concluded. But three days before Christmas, Munson sent them an email, saying a review had not found “sufficient basis” for the results to be overturned.

Munson did not respond to multiple messages from The Times seeking comment.

Bella was heartbroken. In spite of it all, she still wanted to be a Song Girl.

“This was my dream,” she said in late December. “All I wanted was to get to be on the Coliseum sideline, just to get one game day even to dance and feel a part of that legacy.”

All 10 of the women who spoke to The Times still look back fondly on some aspects of their Song Girls experience.

Several of the women say they are skeptical the Song Girls will ever change, that a program so defined by tradition and timeless nostalgia is incapable of evolving without being replaced.

Bella Robakowski said she can still hear the coach’s voice in her head, comparing her body to her sister’s or telling her to cut dairy from her diet. Lately, she’s struggled just to eat at all.

“I know when I can’t eat, I get really upset with myself,” she said.

Her sister, Adrianna, who is now in her first year of law school at USC, wants to believe the program she’s loved her entire life can move forward now that Nelson is gone.

“It’s great in so many ways,” she said. “I just don’t see why the girls of the future can’t have it all, the tradition, the sisterhood, and all of that. Just without the anxiety and the eating disorders.”

latimes.com

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