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SIGNAL BOOST!? Girl could be expelled from college after her activism has created an 'intimidating environment' for her rapist. PLEASE SHARE

UNC Chapel Hill is a school which has received a lot of recent criticism over handling of sexual assault cases, to put it mildly. In this Jezebel article they discuss how the former dean of students was told to underreport cases of sexual violence. It’s been a messy and incredibly victim blaming situation, which has resulted in students filing against the Dept of Education. The girl Andrea, quoted in both of these articles is both a survivor and a friend of mine. She is utterly remarkable and so brave and resillient despite the stuff she has faced from administrators. Another mentioned, Landen Gambill, has been told that she has violated the honour code of the school for creating an ‘intimidating environment’ for her rapist, despite the fact she has NEVER identified him by name. She asked if, by being raped, she had violated the honour code and they said yes. They said YES. I am basically shaking as I’m writing this and we need your help because this is not just a problem here, and this same stuff is probably happening across college campuses. Please, please share this, send the message out that NO ONE should ever be punished for their rape or treated the way these, and other women have been. Please help us bring some attention to this. We need you.

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update Jezebel has reported on this! and huff post!

#STANDWITHLANDEN

Update: Andrea speaks out:

I still deal with the physical and detrimental mental effects of my rape, and they haunt me daily,
But nothing has scarred me more that hearing how my University, whose seal I wear proudly around my neck, has purposely silenced the voices of my fellow survivors.

I feel unsafe at UNC, because I have felt the screams trapped in my throat, and I have heard the stories of survivors. I have heard the stories of survivors who reported, who asked for help, who went through the process, and who lost - their stories are just like mine.

I have listened to, and relived these stories because no one else wants to believe it happens here.

It’s destroying me, because, in spite of the betrayal and the blood shed, Carolina is still in my mind.

After years, months, and hours of writing our stories, reliving our nightmares, and speaking out, our University chooses to maintain that silence. They will only respond to a complaint, they will only deny underreporting numbers, and are determined to fight us down.

But, we did not survive an attack on our lives to let the school we love mark us and ignore us.
We did not survive sexual assault to let this University shame us away.
Not without a fight.

thank you so so much to you who have helped spread the word, please tweet #standwithlanden!