Texas A&M University at College Station is facing a social-media firestorm over its handling of sexual-abuse complaints after two women who say they were victimized by athletes at A&M posted their accounts online. Both athletes, a swimmer and a football player, were initially suspended but later allowed to rejoin their teams.
The two women, whose accounts on Twitter and Facebook over the past week quickly went viral, have accused the university of failing to take their complaints seriously enough. Their public campaigns to bring attention to what they consider the university’s tepid response to sexual misconduct prompted more than a dozen other current and former A&M students to post similar accusations.
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Texas A&M University at College Station is facing a social-media firestorm over its handling of sexual-abuse complaints after two women who say they were victimized by athletes at A&M posted their accounts online. Both athletes, a swimmer and a football player, were initially suspended but later allowed to rejoin their teams.
The two women, whose accounts on Twitter and Facebook over the past week quickly went viral, have accused the university of failing to take their complaints seriously enough. Their public campaigns to bring attention to what they consider the university’s tepid response to sexual misconduct prompted more than a dozen other current and former A&M students to post similar accusations.
Hannah Shaw fired the opening salvo last week with a tweet expressing her frustration that the student who was found responsible for sexually abusing her three years ago was back on the swim team. She shared the letter she had received from Lori A. Williams, senior associate athletics director.
It recognized the “courage and strength” Shaw had demonstrated in raising her concerns, and added that “I regret your displeasure with the perceived impact, and I wish you all the best as you continue to seek healing.”
As of Thursday, Shaw’s post had been retweeted about 16,000 times and “liked” more than 38,000 times. Shaw also posted the university’s official conduct letter, which found the swimmer responsible for one count of sexual abuse and suspended him for six months, followed by a semester of probation.
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The swimmer, Austin Van Overdam, could not be reached for comment and has not spoken publicly about his case. The lawyer who advised him at his conduct hearing took to his defense on Facebook, saying that Shaw had come to his client’s room willingly after meeting him through the dating app Tinder. He outlined their sexual encounter, some of which was consensual, in graphic detail, and questioned why she had waited so long to complain to university officials.
A Bad Case of Jock Itch
In the other case involving an Aggie athlete, Meghan Romere took to Twitter to describe her frustration with the university’s response to an incident in October 2016.
She was a junior, tutoring for the athletics department, when a football player she was helping exposed himself to her. “We were alone, in a secluded room in the Nye Academic Center,” she wrote. “He was easily twice my size, and sitting approximately two feet from me, when he began masturbating in front of me, posturing in a threatening manner, and speaking to me in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable.”
She wrote that she abruptly ended the tutoring session and walked out, trying to stay calm as he followed her out the door. After reporting the incident to the police, she said she had been told, during a campus conduct hearing, that the athlete had exposed his penis inadvertently while reacting to a bad case of jock itch.
Hi Twitter. I don’t tweet often, but when I do, I really mean it. Sharing this has taken me over a year and a half, but I’m tired of waiting for @TAMU to step up. Please please share this. It’s time to do something. pic.twitter.com/grEvQ1sVzR
Fed up, Romere said she had quit her tutoring job. She and another woman who said she’d had the same experience with him during a tutoring session were granted rehearings. The university found the player, Kirk Merritt, responsible for a reduced charge of sexual harassment, and his suspension from the football team was lifted.
Romere said she was tired of waiting for the university to “step up,” and urged her followers to share her tweet. By Thursday it had been shared nearly 5,000 times.
A Deep Commitment
Texas A&M released a statement this week saying that federal privacy laws prevent it from discussing individual cases but declaring its “deep commitment to a safe, secure environment for all students, to a fair investigative process, to rights of appeals by parties, and to rendering sanctions to those found responsible for sexual misconduct.”
Every claim of sexual misconduct is investigated, the statement says, and students found responsible face sanctions that can include suspension or dismissal. “Usually students who are suspended return on a probationary status, and have additional requirements to perform,” it says. “If performed, then student privileges are reinstated, unless of course further misconduct occurs.”
Athletes who are accused of conduct-code violations face the same investigative process as any other students, the statement says.
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association allows athletes to compete in four seasons over a five-year period. They can sit out a year for any reason, including an illness or suspension for conduct-code violations.
Among those weighing in on Twitter was Brenda Tracy, who became a national advocate for sexual-assault victims after an alleged gang rape in 1998 that included two members of the Oregon State University football team. Last year she shared her story with athletes, coaches, and administrators at Texas A&M.
Abbie Hillis, a 2012 A&M graduate who says she was raped at an off-campus party in 2010, started a closed Facebook page for Texas A&M survivors of sexual abuse and others who want to improve the campus climate. The site had more than 280 members on Thursday.
In an emotional, nationally televised interview on Wednesday, Shaw and Romere said they had taken to social media because they were tired of their complaints’ being ignored.
“They’ve messed with the wrong girls,” Romere said during the interview, on the Today show. “I’m not letting it go, and we won’t let it go.”
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Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.
Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, student success, and job training, as well as free speech and other topics in daily news. Follow her @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.