Wilkinson writes: "Even surrounded by supportive friends, I felt as if there was a huge flashing arrow over my head. I felt as if everyone knew what had happened, even though in reality few people knew anything. I felt like a victim."
UVA Rotunda at Dusk. (photo: Todd Vance/Wikimedia Commons)
05 April 15
n 1997, I was sexually assaulted by a fellow student at the University of Virginia. At a closed hearing, the university’s committee on sexual assault found him responsible. His punishment? A letter in his file.
It’s not clear how many women have won their cases through the university’s system since they were first allowed to enroll as undergraduates in 1970. I am one of the women who won, but winning wasn’t really winning, was it?
The hearing on my case took place in March 1998, two months after a criminal trial that ended in disappointment and frustration for me when the judge dismissed the charge that the Commonwealth of Virginia had filed against my attacker.
