<p>Yet another case of raping and photographing an unconscious female, but this time the school and law enforcement have acted promptly. Could there be a shift in the works, thanks to all of the publicity around Savannah Dietrich, Steubenville, and the various Title IX cases?</p>
<p>I was heartbroken to read about this earlier today. One of my ds graduated from Vanderbilt, and we have always thought very highly of the school. I am gratified that Vandy’s response seems to have been quick, responsible, and sensitive to the victim, who was unconscious during the assault. </p>
<p>The crime was apparently discovered 2 days after the fact when school authorities were reviewing surveillance tapes of the dorm hallway on another matter (so far undisclosed). They contacted campus police, who contacted local police. The players were kicked off the team and banned from campus - I don’t know if they’ve been officially expelled. Nashville police have concluded their investigation; the case was presented to a grand jury, and now the DA has charged the 4 former team members. Three have been arrested (don’t know about the fourth).</p>
<p>I am pretty plugged into this. The 4th has not yet turned himself in (as of a couple of hours ago), but will do so. All 4 were expelled from the university within days of discovery of the crime. I am not one to rush to a verdict, but the evidence is apparently quite compelling and has been described by law enforcement as “disturbing”. This is simply awful and no one is more distressed than the Vanderbilt football coach, Athletic Director (Vice Chancellor) and the school administration. There was swift action and full cooperation with the Metro police with absolutely no attempt to protect anyone because of being on an athletic team.</p>
<p>In fact, none of the 4 players had ever played a game for Vanderbilt. One, however, was a graduate of one of the elite private schools in Nashville. It is all so sad and hard to understand.</p>
<p>As I understand it, 3 were redshirted freshmen in 2012 who played with the practice team only and one was a transfer student who arrived on campus this summer for conditioning.</p>
<p>Whether or not the young men were starters on the team is unimportant. The conduct (alleged) is horrible and criminal. Some psychological flaw is at work here when multiple young men engage in or stand around and watch such abuse.</p>
<p>Also, while I agree that the Vandy administration has conducted itself quite properly thus far, I exclude the head football coach from praise. Like the Nashville and Vandy community members whose comments I saw online, I am annoyed that the coach offered absolutely no public concern for the victim. He didn’t even voice any abhorrence for the alleged acts. Rather, he talked about his own pride in Vanderbilt. Huh?</p>
<p>And why are administrators so mum about the circumstances which led them to seek to review the hallway video in the first place? The Nashville Tennessean stated that university officials were looking for something else when they saw the football players “acting suspiciously” on the video. That’s when officials called the police. We’ll I’m sure Vandy folks know more than I do at this point.</p>
<p>Coach Franklin expressed concern for the victim previously. He was under very strict orders from the university and the police about what could be said. There is no one on that campus or in this city more upset about this conduct than James Franklin. It’s a criminal matter involving unimaginable conduct by 4 males that happened to be on the Vanderbilt football roster. It would have been just as awful, in my opinion, had the young men been on the debate team.</p>
<p>And what makes everyone think they get to know everything involved in either a campus or a criminal investigation? Maybe someone reported a theft or some vandalism and that’s why the hallway video was being reviewed? What difference does it make?</p>
<p>More details or rumors have been reported by the media. From these, I’m sure anyone who knows the victim knows that she is the one who was allegedly raped. I really wish news media wouldn’t do this—they SAY they won’t publish the name of the victim but then they publish so many facts about her that many people will be able to figure out who she is. I really think this is irresponsible. </p>
<p>In the Steubenville case, it was easy to figure out the name of the victim even before it leaked. There were so many details…from X town, attended a Catholic high school, entering her X year of high school, a member of a sports team that had a practice on such and such a day, etc. </p>
<p>I’m not blaming Vanderbilt for this…just saying I wish the media would leave the poor victim alone.</p>
<p>So far it seems as if the response by Vanderbilt and local law enforcement has been exemplary. I see no reason why they should be expected to release information about an unrelated matter, especially if it is still under investigation.</p>
<p>I think one can be quite certain that she was not the first person raped at Vandy, since I doubt that they are immune from the nationwide epidemic. But one can hope that this signals a new era in how rape cases are dealt with.</p>
<p>I don’t find it all suspect that the dorm hallway tapes were being reviewed. From my experience in res life, this happened often and was usually because of theft or vandalism. At one point, I was asked by my boss if I could identify someone in a surveillance photo (I could not). </p>
<p>I think it’s absolutely pathetic that we are so shocked and elated to see a school actually doing the right thing about a rape case. It should always be this way.</p>
<p>It would have been better if they could have seen it in real time and maybe stopped it.</p>
<p>I am curious as to if there were anyone else in the dorm other than those football players. If so, did they notice anything strange and reported it.</p>
<p>Just knowing that they called in the police quickly rather than trying to handle this with on-campus police makes me glad they are taking this seriously. Good for Vanderbilt.
My thoughts are with the young woman. I hope that she will be able to recover from this ordeal.</p>
<p>jonri- I am seeing nothing in the media about the victim. What are you seeing? I see that she is listed as a 21 year old current student. The only other information that has been out there, as far as I can tell, was from a blog in mid-July saying she was the girlfriend of one of the 4. That is completely unconfirmed. I might be missing something, but I’m not seeing it.</p>
<p>More disturbing details (or alleged details) regarding this case, and an allegation that Coach Franklin encouraged someone to delete evidence from phones. Franklin denies the anonymous allegations:</p>