By Evan Grossman
New York Daily News
Three Michigan State basketball players are accused of raping a female student three years ago and the school allegedly pressured the woman to stay silent, according to an explosive federal lawsuit filed Monday.
The lawsuit alleges three unnamed Spartans players took an 18-year-old victim home from a bar in April 2015 and allegedly sexually assaulted her. According to the Detroit Free Press, the woman never reported the incident to police until now. The victim remains a student at MSU, according to the Free Press.
According to the lawsuit, the victim, a sports journalism major, claims she was held down by the three players and they took turns raping her in a bedroom. The lawsuit also alleges the victim was allegedly coerced by school officials to stay quiet about the incident after she finally reported it, more than a week later, to the Michigan State University Counseling Center.
The victim said when she told officials she was raped by basketball players, their behavior changed and she was eventually told “that if she chose to notify the police, she faced an uphill battle that would create anxiety and unwanted media attention and publicity as had happened with many other female students who were sexually assaulted by well-known athletes.”
The student was also allegedly told the school was aware of many incidents involving “guys with big names” and advised her to “just get yourself better.”
In addition, the victim was allegedly told that if she pursued charges, “you are going to be swimming with some really big fish.”
The lawsuit follows an alarming ESPN report earlier this year that exposed a culture at Michigan State viewed as hostile toward women. The “Outside the Lines” report accused the school of cultivating an environment full of “widespread denial, inaction and information suppression” surrounding sexual assault accusations.
“In one case, a university-hired outside investigator claimed to have not even generated a written report at the conclusion of his work,” ESPN reported. “And attorneys who have represented accusers and the accused agree on this: University officials have not always been transparent, and often put the school’s reputation above the need to give fair treatment to those reporting sexual violence and to the alleged perpetrators.”
At least 16 MSU football players have been accused of sexual assault or violence against women since 2007. According to another report in The Athletic, the NCAA has known about 37 alleged assaults by Michigan State student-athletes in just 2010.