Spelman, Morehouse tense over rape rumors

The whispered rumors raced around the campus: Morehouse men had raped Spelman women, and the school administrations were covering it up.

Ten days since a group of Spelman students staged an angry anti-rape protest over the alleged sexual assaults of two of their classmates, simmering tensions on both campuses remain. Despite the rumors, which have sparked dozens of conversations and a flurry of e-mails among concerned parents and alumni, no one has been arrested or charged with any crime.

Morehouse students say they have been maligned by the protest and the allegations, which have yet to be proved true. And officials at both schools, which have a long tradition of working together, are busy trying to carefully address the overall issue of sexual violence without fanning the rumors' flames.

"There's a lot of smoke out there, and that smoke has alarmed people," said Kevin Rome, Morehouse College's vice president of Student Services. "But we haven't seen any fire. There's inaccurate, incorrect information being passed around."

The only incident report that has been filed with police regarding a sexual assault of a Spelman student by a Morehouse student is murky, and officials at both schools say they have not seen it.

According to the report, a Spelman student told Atlanta police she had been sexually assaulted by a Morehouse student after a party on Sept. 16. In the report, the student said she went with the man back to his residence where he began making sexual advances. At one point, the student said she told the man, "I'm not doing this." But, after continued advances, she performed oral sex on him. She said "she did not want to, but she did not tell the suspect no," according to the police report. She later had sex with the man, the report states, and did not say no. She told police she was in an "uncomfortable situation and did not know what to do." The report says she went to Grady Memorial Hospital and, after first deciding not to press charges, went to Atlanta police about the incident.

The copy of the report obtained by the Journal-Constitution identifies the man only by a first name.

Spelman students who organized the anti-rape protest said they hadn't seen any police report but had heard that two incidents had been reported to the school's Women's Center.

Spelman senior Leana Cabral, who serves as co-president of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, said she and other students decided to hold a rally to get the issue of sexual assault out into the open. In addition to the protest, the students have asked for specific actions by Spelman to address sexual assault on campus, including the establishment of a crisis hotline and sexual assault center.

On Sept. 20, they donned handmade T-shirts with slogans such as, "She's my Sister," and "No means No," and marched through campus. About 150 students crossed over to nearby Clark Atlanta University and onto Morehouse's campus, where the results of student government elections were being announced. Shouting, "Stop the Rape," they faced off with Morehouse students, many of whom were visibly angry, Cabral said.

"They were getting the point so wrong — we weren't going there against them. We were going there to work with them and try to raise awareness," she said.

Rome said Morehouse students were upset they hadn't been told of the protest in advance. "They support the cause," he said. "but they question the tactics."

Spelman President Beverly Tatum, who attended the rally, later said in a letter to the Morehouse community that, while she shared the "concern Spelman students have about the importance of raising awareness about the issues," she did not "support the disruption of activities on another campus."

Morehouse President Walter Massey, who has been out of the country, said in a letter that he and Tatum "are committed to working together to foster a climate of safety and mutual respect" for Spelman, Morehouse and other schools in the Atlanta University Center.

The two schools have launched a series of initiatives to that end, something that was already in the works before last week's protest. A joint task force of faculty, staff and students at both schools will tackle issues of gender, diversity and tolerance, said Sherry Turner, Spelman's vice president of Student Affairs.

"We'll be working together to offer educational forums, workshops and staff training," Turner said. "It will allow students on both campuses to come together."