July 13, 2020

To the Administration of the University of San Francisco, 

“Who would have thought that because of an Instagram story years later, I’d finally become brave enough to share my experience of sexual assault during my time at the University of San Francisco” 

Anonymous. 

Over the past four days an alumnus of the University of San Francisco, @wmidence, has been virtually protesting on Instagram in solidarity with the student body. This student, in a critical satirical post referenced the television quote, “I’m gonna create an environment that is so toxic,” and drew parallels to the University of San Francisco’s athletic department’s recruiting efforts for the Men’s Soccer Team. The post has evolved into four days of protest and deeper conversations about the culture of rape and terror perpetuated by the USFCA Men’s Soccer Team. No actions by the school have been made to address these most recent calls for justice. It is a widely known, and sadly accepted, fact among students that allegations of this nature are diminished and dismissed by the University. This has led to many students feeling like they are not safe on campus and have no place to report cases of sexual assault. This created a toxic environment for both male and female students that continues to have lasting effects on students even after graduating from USFCA. 

Our university’s vision, mission,  and value statements state that “The University of San Francisco will be internationally recognized as a premier Jesuit Catholic, urban university with a global perspective that educates leaders who will fashion a more humane world.” This rings hollow when at least 60% of your student body identifies as female and a common sentiment is that they do not feel safe on the USFCA campus and around a school-sponsored team. If the objective is to “fashion a more humane world,” why is the campus an inhumane place? USFCA’s statement of nondiscrimination states “The University of San Francisco is committed to providing an environment free from sex and gender-based discrimination and harassment.” The innaction and silence from the University is a discriminatory act and is equivalent to telling female students that their safety does not matter.

As a result of the unacceptable behavior of these students on campus and at social events outside of school grounds, an environment has been created where women need to protect themselves because there is no recourse, justice, or safety within the programs that our institution has established. Below are experiences shared by students. Students have consented to having their stories shared and all have asked to remain anonymous due to repercussions such as not being able to afford a lawsuit, not sure if they are willing to relive these memories, or simply plain denial from our university. A common theme amongst these shared experiences is the fear that the school will dismiss them, that the allegations will not be taken seriously by the athletic department or athletes, and that they will be shamed and ridiculed because these boys held social capital amongst the USFCA community, which was in part given to them by the school. The harm inflicted by the USFCA Men’s Soccer team was not limited to physical harm nor was it limited to female students.  Collectively, the team explicitly with words and actions, attacked anyone who did not fit the hetero- normative male expectations. Many students came to the University of San Francisco seeking a school where they felt safe, accepted, and where their gender nor identity would hinder their ability to learn and grow into leaders who would “change the world from here.” The following accounts are from the survivors of the USFCA’s Men’s Soccer Team:

Survivor Stories: 

“Who would have thought that because of an Instagram Story years later, I'd finally become brave enough to share my experience of sexual assault during my time at the University of San Francisco. I was 19, a virgin, and enjoying my first Bay to Breakers in May of 2016. Close friends with a couple of the soccer players, my girls and I were at the soccer house for the pregame. My friends and I went back to their house after the parade to keep hanging out. We fell asleep on the living room couches.

I woke up in this man's bed, him on top of me, pushing himself inside me. Be it because of shock, not knowing what to do, or not wanting to upset him - I lay there until he finished. The classic cliché - is anyone going to believe me? And if they do, will they make it public? I will not have this one day define my entire college career. I didn't tell anyone for weeks. It tore at me inside and I was completely clueless on how to handle. Do I need a Plan B? Where do I get it? Is this bleeding normal? I'll just count the days until my next period.

I didn't let myself cry. To cope, I began drinking heavily during the summer, at home. And only when I was on the brink of blacking out, I'd let myself sob uncontrollably. Until one day, it slipped out and I told my older brother and cousins. They wanted to find him and make him pay. I begged them not to do anything - who would have thought I'd be defending him. A downward spiral of turmoil since that one day in May. He ruined me for years. I've since healed, with years of therapy and getting to know myself. But my dad will not forget. My brother does not forget. My mom protects me relentlessly.

It's so angering to know that one quick fuck for him had so many  repercussions in my life. Even if there's no consequences for him today, I'm happy to be sharing my story. It's just another textbook case of sexual assault to be added to the list. But hey, maybe this time USF can learn from it.

The timeless line, I never thought it'd happen to me... much less be done by someone I considered a close friend. How naive for an American girl in the 21st century.” - anonymous 

“The misdoings of the soccer team at the University of San Francisco has been a long kept secret by not only the students, but also by the administration and coaching staff. When coming to USF as a freshman, I was warned almost immediately by other women to steer clear of them. For some reason, I did not. My freshman year, I actually considered many of them my friends which I would say gave me a better insight into what these boys were really like. To these boys, “getting” girls was pretty much a game. It was an unspoken competition to see which one of them would be able to sleep with the most women, and it was shown that they would step over boundaries to reach that goal. The amount of women, both who I did and did not know, that were groped, pressured, and at some points taken complete advantage of when drunk is absolutely unacceptable. I myself was drunk at a club once when one of these boys asked me if I’d like to get some air outside. We had been flirting, so I agreed and followed him out of the venue. He led me to an alleyway where we started kissing consensually. That changed quickly. This boy repeatedly tried to get me to touch him over his pants, and when I said no he took it further by fully undoing his pants and removing his penis to get me to try to touch it. I was so uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do, so I ended up laughing and saying that I was going back inside. When I got back inside, I proceeded to get more drunk to try to shake off what happened. Other boys on the soccer team, who I considered my friends, came up to me telling me that this one boy really liked me and thought I was beautiful. I was 19 and naive, I trusted the boys who I thought were my friends. That night, I went home with the boy in the alley. My experience is something that I know for a fact other women at USF have faced, if not something more traumatic. At the time, I thought my experience was normal because that is how normalized these actions from this particular team were. If you got close enough to them, that was almost what was expected to happen. The culture of treating women as objects and as targets creates a horribly unsafe environment for everyone who attends school at the University of San Francisco. I know many people who have been victimized by the team, whether it is an unwanted sexual advance, a homophobic slur or a racial slur. It is not a coincidence that there is an overwhelmingly negative stigma and reputation of the soccer team at USF. They have earned it. They were shown that no matter their actions, there would be no repercussions for them and have taken full advantage. Women have come forward with their stories only to be brushed under the rug and dismissed by administration and the staff of the soccer team. There comes a time when enough is enough. Two of the core values of this university state that the University of San Francisco is committed to advancing “the full, integral development of each person and all persons, with the belief that no individual or group may rightfully prosper at the expense of others” and “the moral dimension of every significant human choice: taking seriously how and who we choose to be in the world”. The soccer team has long been benefiting at the expense of others. Why is it that time and time again they are protected by administration over those they have victimized and brutalized. It is now the University of San Francisco’s turn to live up to the morality they preach and do the right thing to protect the victims in this long cycle of abuse. It’s time to yourself do what you have told all your students, and change the world from here.” - anonymous 

“When I was a junior in high school a player of the USF soccer team offered to drive me home from a party. I was very thankful he offered to drive me because I lived about 20 minutes away from the party. When we got outside my house he drove a few houses down and said “let’s hangout in the backseat before you have to go”. I felt uncomfortable but thought okay I guess that’s the nicest thing I could do as a thank you for driving me home. We sat in his backseat (of a 2 door car) and as soon as we got in the back he forcefully started making out with me, unbuttoned my pants and started fingering me. I never said no because this was my “thank you” he pulled down his pants and put my hand on his penis and put my hands in an up & down motion. Once he came he let me get out of the car and go inside to my house. A couple weeks later I heard rumors around my hometown that I had slept with him (which absolutely never happened) and how slutty i was.” anonymous - **not a USFCA student**

“March 2, 2018 

I was raped at the soccer house. It started at Harlot, I got very drunk and was blacking out. I met two soccer guys there. Next thing I know I was in an Uber with both of them and ended up at the soccer house. I woke up naked in Gilson’s girls’ shower drenched in water. I was a virgin and I knew something happened. My body had never felt this way and I could still taste cum in my mouth. I was too embarrassed to talk about it so I kept quiet. 

December 21, 2018

One of the guys DM’d me and asked if I remembered him. I told him ya and that I remembered the other guy too. I said sorry if I did anything embarrassing, I was blacked out and don’t remember anything. He said I gave him head and that “Your really good at it” The only thing I cared about was if we had sex. He said he put his penis in my vagina for a little bit but pulled out because he heard someone coming. 

After I told him I was blacked out, he still said “I know you wanted it”…” - anonymous 

“I went out to the bars with friends as a freshman and almost the entire soccer team was there.

I hadn’t been out before in SF and got extremely drunk. I was throwing up in the bar and the bouncer asked me to leave. I went outside and sat down by the curb and continued to throw up. 

My Friend noticing I was gone, came outside with some of the other guys on the team to find me. She saw my body looked like a rag doll and a soccer player at USF sat on the ground with me. He was as she described “holding me up by my Pony tail and forcibly sticking his tongue down my throat”. She told him to get off me and he said he had just called an Uber for him and I. He said he was planning to take me back to the dorms. His teammates laughed. She said no, that I was way too drunk to go home with anyone and luckily took me herself. I woke up with almost no memories of the night but so thankful for my friend. I don’t know what would have happened if he had me in his uber before she came out. 

That same friend was raped by another soccer player only months after this incident. I wish I had been there to help her. “ - anonymous 

“I was out for the night freshman year with my friends at one of the popular local bars that everyone went to, including the students on the men’s soccer team. I do not remember any of the night after arriving at the bar. Shortly after arriving at the bar, the next thing I remember is being in my dorm room, having sex with one of the students on the soccer team. I remember he was biting me really hard on the chest, so much that t was hurting really badly and when I asked him to stop, he continued biting me. He ignored multiple pleas from me telling him to stop. He then started trying to kiss me and biting my lip really hard. I told him he was hurting me and I wanted to stop, which he ignored. I eventually tasted blood in my mouth, pushed him off of me to tell him I was bleeding and ran to the bathroom in complete distress. When I came back to the room to ask him to leave, he was asleep in the bed. He left the next morning with no more than a few words. I had bruised and a swollen, bloody, scabbed over lip for weeks after to remind me of what he did to me. When I tried to speak up about how unsettling and horrible it all felt to other students on the men’s soccer team, they laughed it off and told me they had heard I had a good night. I was encouraged by my therapist to write a report on USF’a sexual assault reporting site, Calypso, which I did. I did not feel ready to submit the report because I was scared of the backlash, so I saved it to be submitted later, which is a feature that Calypso has in order to give victims the time to report on their own terms. I didn’t feel ready for another year, until I started hearing more allegations of the same student raping other girls. When I returned to Calypso to submit my report, I found that it had all been erased. He transferred schools and moved out of the country later that year, and I never felt comfortable trying to take action again because I felt it would be pointless with him in another country. I still have pictures to remind myself of what he did to me, so that I never again blame myself for being a victim.” - anonymous 

 

 

As students, we strongly feel, and know from lived experiences, that the current campus environment and protocol for dealing with these allegations is insufficient and shameful. Statistics show that 15% of women are raped while unable to consent during their first year in college. USF is not an exception to that statistic, but this is no excuse for complacency. We the students and our allies, demand that USFCA investigate past claims and earnestly and diligently investigate any future claims. As people coming together in solidarity for survivors, we also ask that you create a system where you truly hold your student athletes accountable. The elevated status that you, the University of San Francisco, have given them does not lessen their predatory actions nor does it excuse the dehumanizing acts they have committed.  It is clear that the current system for reporting cases of sexual assault is not working and we believe that there needs to be a complete overhaul of the current reporting protocols and an independent organization created that is funded by the student activity fee to support victims of sexual assault. Acknowledging that this happened and continues to happen as an institution, will be the most justice some of these survivors will ever receive. As a community, we demand this be addressed on an institutional level for the safety and wellbeing of all students past, present, and future.  

 

Sincerely, 

Your USFCA community, alumni,  & allies.