The woman at the center of a nearly 20-year-old rape case against Oregon State is speaking out after the sexual assault sentence of Stanford University swimmer, Brock Turner.
Turner’s six-month jail sentence for the rape of a female student has sparked outrage across the country. He was found guilty of three sexual assault charges for attacking the unconscious woman behind a dumpster in January 2015.
“I'm glad that people are furious about it. I'm glad that they're offended. I think that means we're making progress in the right direction,” Brenda Tracy said via Skype from Oregon. She said four football players drugged and raped her in 1998. Two of them were OSU players, coached by Mike Riley, who how heads Nebraska’s program.
Tracy believed authorities misled her about the evidence in her case. She trusted OSU officials would take proper disciplinary actions. She said the players were suspended for one game. The discipline ended there.
“It's damaging for people to come back against us. We're called liars. As you saw the victim's statement, look what she had to go through during her trial, and after all that he only got six months,” Tracy said.
Turner’s victim released a lengthy statement, which has also traveled heavily through social media.
“I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else,” she said in a statement. “This is not a story of another drunk college hook-up with poor decision making. Assault is not an accident. Somehow, you still don’t get it.”
Tracy said reading the words triggered her emotions from nearly 20 years ago. This month she will travel to Lincoln to meet Mike Riley face-to-face when she speaks to Nebraska players about her OSU experience.
“This trip to Nebraska is probably going to be one of the biggest moments of my life. I hated him [Riley] for many, many years. And the idea of coming face to face with him is kind of scary to me, but I feel it’s necessary to find more healing,” she said. “I'm hoping to leave there with some sort of peace and understanding. I'm just really hoping to find more healing for myself.”
