Brock Turner seemed to be a turning point for the country’s awareness of how often schools and courts mishandle sexual assault cases. His lenient prison term of just three months for raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster was unfortunately not the exception—it’s the norm for many white, young, male student athletes who make a “mistake” while they’re getting a “few minutes of action.”
Around a week after Turner was released from jail, CC Carreras, a recent alumna of the University of Richmond, posted an article to the Huffington Post, entitled “There’s a Brock Turner in all o(UR) Lives.”
The article began with a shocking statement. After reporting her sexual assault, and dealing with a physical assault investigation, a 10-hour hearing, a 93-page appeal and nine no contact violations by the student who allegedly raped her, UR decided not to go forward with her case. The explanation she received? “I thought it was reasonable for him to penetrate you for a few more minutes if he was going to finish,” said Dean Daniel J. Fabian, Associate Dean of Richmond College. According to Carreras account, the administrator, ironically wearing an “It Ends Now” shirt, thought that the accused student reaching an orgasm was more important than the fact that she withdrew her consent.
Carrera’s report of her very own Brock Turner detailed the extreme burden of evidence her account underwent. Her statements required physical evidence to even be considered as true, whereas her accused rapist need only say he disagreed or forgot about whatever situation she referred to in order for him to return to the realm of innocent. In university interviews, the accused student even admitted, three separate times, to knowing that CC did not consent. The officials allegedly explained away those confessions, telling the hearing board that they thought the accused student was confused by the question.
During a no-contact period, in which the two involved in the case were not supposed to make any contact with each other, Carreras reported her Brock Turner violated the sanction nine times. Five of these reports were supported by physical evidence. UR, however, only found the accused student responsible for one of these violations. This did not lead to his suspension, nor to his removal from campus. Instead, he could go on campus for academic and athletic reasons. This was the only punishment he received for sexual assault—one that he allegedly said “shouldn’t have happened” in a video recording.
The student in question, although the author did not identify him by name, is a UR athlete, representing the school “on a national scale”—much like Brock Turner.
“For as long as Richmond’s Brock Turner continues to represent Richmond on a national scale, we are not #UnitedinRed,” Carreras declared. “For as long as the administration continues to justify and excuse rape, we are not #OneRichmond.”
Despite the clear issues in Richmond’s handling of CC’s case, UR released a statement meant to reassure the public about their Title IX procedures. Instead, the statement accused Carreras of lying.
“While we cannot address specifically the contentions in the recent Huffington Post commentary, given our commitment to student privacy, and we respect the right of all students to express their opinion and discuss their perspective, we think it is important for us to share that many of the assertions of fact are inaccurate and do not reflect the manner in which reports of sexual misconduct have been investigated and adjudicated at the University.”
The statement, posted to Facebook, was met with outrage by students and alumni. “Thoroughly disappointed in this response,” wrote one Facebook user. “Backhandedly calling the victim a liar and the University’s condescending tone is sickening. It wholeheartedly supports the victim’s statement of the University’s true sentiments on the matter.”
“After reading this response, I’m beyond disgusted, flabbergasted, and sad,” wrote another user. “I’m so ashamed of my Alma Mater.”
However, no response was more adequate in facing up to UR’s outrageous statement than that of the author herself. CC Carreras published another article to the HuffPost, this one titled, “Richmond, all I wanted was for you to say sorry. But instead, you called me a liar. So, here are the receipts.”
Carreras thanked the men and women, both alumni and students, who have shared their own stories of assault and messaged her with words of support. She denounced her university’s response to her article. Most importantly, she went through each and every detail of her account, providing written and emailed receipts as evidence of her story. For example, she included her timestamped email response to Dean Fabian after he commented that the accused student was reasonable in continuing to penetrate her because he was close to orgasming.
She recounted her own transcript of the 10-hour hearing and interviews with school officials. Outside of the evidence that has been marked as confidential, most details of her original HuffPost article were accounted for—including almost every receipt for all nine of the no-contact violations by the accused student.
In a world where sexual assault survivors are often stigmatized as liars, drunk girls or “asking for it,” especially when it comes to campus assaults, the University of Richmond only perpetuated that stigma with its statement on her article. CC Carreras decided to take her physical evidence public—a move so courageous she received even more support and is inspiring students to share their stories in the hopes that they will no longer be met with disbelief.