Street roots., November 02, 2018, Page 4, Image 4

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Page 4
Street Roots • Nov. 2-8, 2018
11 This is
something
that I think
about a lot:
being a rape
survivor and
having to
watch tens of
thousands of
people cheer
for the people
who hurt you,
I don’t know
of people
understand
what that
feels like.
I do, and I
know other
survivors
that do.
Brenda Tracy stands on the Michigan sideline with head football coach Jim Harbaugh during the Sept. 8 game against Western Michigan. Harbaugh
made Tracy honorary captain after she spoke to the team about her #SetTheExpectation campaign to combat rape culture.
Setting the expectation
for college athletes
Brenda Tracy is working to combat rape culture in sports
BY JASON COHEN
State University football players, in a
Corvallis apartment. The case never went to
trial, and the Beavers players were
he president. The Supreme Court
suspended from the team for just one game,
Hollywood. Journalism. Restaurants.
with
then-OSU head coach Mike Riley saying
Comedy. No aspect of American life
they made a “bad choice.” Tracy lived with
has been untouched by sexual assault, sexual
harassment and #MeToo, including the world that trauma - the shame, the fear, the anger,
the public second-guessing of her, the
of college sports.
anonymous victim, rather than her rapists -
It seems impossible to get through a
for 16 years. At her lowest moments, she
season without some kind of scandal - the
repeated incidents at Baylor University under considered suicide. But she also raised two
sons, began a career as a registered nurse in
former football coach Art Briles, Michigan
Portland and got an MBA.
State’s enabling of USA Gymnastics team
Then, in 2014, she went public with her
doctor Larry Nassar, Ohio State football
experience in an interview with Oregonian
coach Urban Meyer’s mishandling of
sports columnist John Canzano, and began
domestic violence allegations against one of
speaking to football coaches and their players
his now-former assistants.
- starting with a penitent Mike Riley, then at
But against that backdrop, college football
the University of Nebraska - about sexual
players, fans and coaches have been having a
assault, rape culture and consent She now
conversation about sexual assault, rape and
tells her story as a full-time job, working with
toxic masculinity for longer than some other
workplaces and cultures, and for several
universities, educating student-athletes,
years before #MeToo. A big reason for that is lobbying both the Oregon Legislature and
Brenda Tracy.
the NCAA for reforms, and asking fans,
In 1998, when she was 24, Tracy was gang- coaches and teams alike to
raped by four men, including two Oregon
#SetTheExpectation: a pledge to stand up
STAFF W R IT E R
Brenda Tracy,
rape survivor and
advocate for changing
. the culture of violence
®
against sexism and violence against women.
She’s now nationally famous, but it’s also a
demanding gig, with constant travel and
awful online critics, to say nothing of the
emotional toll taken by constantly reliving
her own rape while also hearing the stories
of other survivors.
“I literally live in this dark world of rape
and sexual violence, 24/7,” Tracy said. But
two decades after that night in Corvallis, she
also said she wouldn’t take it back, as it has
brought her to her current life and purpose.
“Somebody has to be out there talking about
survivors, and that’s my job: to make sure
you don’t forget about us.”
Jason Cohen: We’ve spoken several times
over the past six months, and there is always
some new incident or new development. When
the news broke o f how Ohio State coach Urban
Meyer handled - or didn’t handle - the
domestic violence allegations against one o f his
assistants, a lot o f people thought he was done.
Brenda Tracy: I thought it was
See TRACY, page 5