McCluskey family creates foundation in daughter’s honor

The parents of the former Pullman High School student killed on the University of Utah campus in October have created a foundation in their daughter’s name to support college campus safety.

Jill and Matt McCluskey established the Lauren McCluskey Foundation on Jan. 8. Their daughter, Lauren McCluskey, was killed by an ex-boyfriend after she found out he lied about his age and identity and failed to tell her he was a convicted sex offender on parole. She reported to the police he had been harassing her in the days leading up to her death, but no action was taken by the university or law enforcement.

The McCluskeys want the foundation to be a tool to educate college campuses about ways of improving safety, particularly when it comes to relationship violence.

“What we wanted to do is just to, first, honor Lauren’s legacy and, second, is to just do as much good as we can to offset the enormous tragedy,” Matt McCluskey said.

More information about the foundation can be found at laurenmccluskey.org.

The McCluskeys say their daughter’s death could have been prevented if not for systematic failures involving the campus police and university officials who failed to respond appropriately when Lauren McCluskey expressed concern for her safety.

The McCluskeys want to prevent a similar situation from happening again in Utah and beyond.

“We really believe that campuses aren’t safe right now, especially at the University at Utah,” Jill McCluskey said.

Matt McCluskey said administrators, housing officials, counselors and first responders need to be educated about best practices because they are all responsible for keeping students safe.

“It’s not just the police,” he said. “If there’s not communication to the police about problems, then they can’t do anything, either.”

The McCluskeys are looking to find successful safety policies implemented by universities and bring more attention to what works.

“We want to get out the success stories and the case studies of where things went really wrong in order to improve everybody,” Matt McCluskey said.

Jill McCluskey said they also want to bring attention to the Lethal Assessment Program, which is a questionnaire that can be used by police to determine if someone is at risk of domestic violence.

The Lauren McCluskey Foundation will support other causes as well.

It will help fund financial assistance, such as providing college scholarships, for student track and field athletes. The McCluskeys have also been discussing partnering with a track and field coach in Spokane who offers money to help underprivileged regional high school athletes travel to track meets.

Lauren McCluskey was a standout track athlete at Pullman High School who competed for the University of Utah. Earlier this month, the University of Idaho renamed its first indoor track meet of the season in her honor. A University of Utah scholarship named the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Fund has already raised $75,000 for student athletes, Jill McCluskey said.

In honor of their daughter’s love for animals, especially cats, the Lauren McClusky Foundation will also benefit animal shelters. Progress has already been made in that respect, as the Whitman County Humane Society is in the process of completing the Lauren McCluskey Cat Wing that will allow the shelter to house twice as many cats at its location. Lauren McCluskey was a volunteer at the Whitman County Humane Society, which is receiving donations to fund the project.

The McCluskeys say they have appreciated the kind words and gestures from the Pullman and Moscow communities in the past months. People have sent cards, food, gifts and even painted portraits of Lauren McCluskey as a show of support.

“There’s a real outpouring of support in all different ways,” Matt McCluskey said.

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883-4640, or by email to akuipers@dnews.com.