Sexual assault survivor Brenda Tracy to appear at UO May 14

Brenda Tracy, an emerging national speaker on campus sexual assault, will give a talk on the UO campus this Thursday, May 14.

Sponsored by the UO Senate Intercollegiate Athletics Committee, the event takes place at 3:30 p.m. in Room 142 of the Knight Law Center. It is free and open to the public.

Tracy is a registered nurse, a sexual assault survivor and an activist. In 1998, she and a friend traveled to Corvallis for an evening out with friends that ended with her filing a police report alleging she was gang-raped by four men, two of them Oregon State University football players.

The four men were arrested and charged, but the case ultimately was dropped. The story resurfaced earlier this year when it was featured in a series of columns by a sportswriter at The Oregonian.

"Brenda has recounted how her case was met with indifference and ignorance by the university and the DA, in a classic case of institutional betrayal with regard to college rape,” said Kurt Krueger, chair of the Senate IAC. “She is a courageous person with a timely message.”

She also spoke at OSU’s Take Back the Night event. A story on that appearance is available here.