Vigilante action over rape hearing at Berkeley
More than 100 posters plastered across the UC Berkeley campus Wednesday could not be more clear. “Rapist,” they declared in large, bold type, featuring a close-up photo of a young man above a caption with the word “rapist” also used as a title before his name.
The flyers were a call to action for Berkeley students to rally against the young man, who showed up on campus to appeal his August expulsion for violating UC’s sexual assault policy. As of this year, state law says all campuses must require affirmative consent between sexual partners. Students accused of sexual assault who
can’t prove their partner said “yes” to sexual contact are subject to campus discipline.
And, in the case of the young man, subject to vigilante justice as well. Prosecutors never charged him.
“Just because the judicial system does not recognize that someone is a rapist doesn’t mean they’re not,” said Angela Dancev, a UC Berkeley alumna and activist from By Any Means Necessary, which printed the posters, organized a rally against the expelled student that drew some 50 people, and even held an “independent tribunal” that supported the student who accused her former friend of raping her on Oct. 2, 2014.
Insufficient evidence
The Alameda County district attorney’s office declined to file charges in the case after reviewing it last year and concluding there was insufficient evidence to prove rape beyond a reasonable doubt. For this reason, The Chronicle is not naming the expelled student.
The Chronicle also does not usually name victims of alleged sexual assault. But in this case, the accuser, Stephanie Nicole Garcia, has gone public.
According to Dancev, Garcia and the former student were friends who had been out together that night last year.
“She had to leave early the next day for a flight,” Dancev said of Garcia. She told her friend, “I’m going to crash at your house. He said OK. But as she was trying to fall asleep, he kept forcing himself into her undergarments. She kept telling him, ‘No, no, no.’ ”
Ultimately, Dancev said, “She was so worn out. She felt cornered. He’s much bigger than her. He took advantage of the friendship and raped her.”
Garcia told the administration and campus police that she had been raped. Campus officials said they could not comment for privacy reasons. UC police referred the case to the district attorney.
Why she went public
In a YouTube video uploaded this week, Garcia explained why she went public with her name — and his.
“To let other rapists or potential rapists know ... to deter them and deter anyone else from thinking they can take advantage of somebody’s body,” Garcia said. “And let them know this is gonna happen to you — a witch-hunt is gonna happen. Your face is gonna be all over this campus.”
Garcia said that after being raped, she lost friends. “People were looking at me differently. People weren’t speaking to me.”
She said she didn’t want to feel stigmatized. “He’s the one that needs to be stigmatized, because he’s the one dehumanizing and raping people,” she said.
Garcia gave another reason for outing the man: “By putting (his) picture all around campus, I’m able to get justice for myself.”
Reporting overhauled
Since 2013, UC Berkeley has been among at least 55 colleges and universities under federal investigation for possible violations of laws governing campus response to accusations of sexual assault. Last year, shortly before Garcia’s encounter with the other student, UC President Janet Napolitano announced a systemwide overhaul of how campuses should respond to such accusations to better protect victims and address accusations seriously. It was also a response to dozens of students and alumnae who came forward with complaints of their accusations being ignored.
The “Yes Means Yes” affirmative consent law this year was another result of national attention on campus sexual assault. It applies only to campuses, not to the criminal justice system.
Now, as campus justice and criminal justice systems collide in their treatment of campus sexual assault, angry victims and their friends are using the Internet and public places to take justice into their own hands. Public shaming of those named in rape complaints — even if they aren’t charged or convicted of a crime — is only going to become more common, said Joni Leventis, who heads the Sexual Assault Unit for the Alameda County district attorney and serves on the committee that is helping UC Berkeley improve its response to campus sexual assault.
“This disparity has the potential of causing people to call someone a rapist,” she said, citing the case of another UC Berkeley student who was found not guilty of rape last year — but not before being labeled a rapist on the Internet. If someone is convicted of rape in court, where the standard of proof is higher than affirmative consent for campuses, “I have no sympathy,” Leventis said. If not, calling someone a rapist “can be very damaging.”
‘Follow through’
Garcia gave yet another reason for exposing the man she once considered a friend.
“To put pressure on the university that they follow through with what they said they would do,” she said on her YouTube video. In other words, to affirm his expulsion.
And that’s what happened Wednesday. After a lengthy closed-door hearing, Garcia emerged and told more than a dozen supporters that the “indefinite dismissal” had been upheld.
“We found out today that I was saying the truth,” Garcia said. “I’m glad that I won.”
The expelled student slipped away and said nothing.