Three Sigma Chis From JMU Recorded Sexual Assault In PCB, Punishment From School Is Pathetic
This will be a tough one to stomach if you’re a JMU Duke, or if you’re simply a sane person who believes in justified punishment.
Sarah Butters, a student at James Madison University, visited Panama City Beach with friends in 2013 for spring break. It was a typical college beach trip up until the night of March 3, when Butters, along with a group of friends, went back to a condo for some late night drinking. Butters blacked out at some point in the night and wasn’t able to recall how the remainder of the evening turned out the following morning.
She heard rumors that she was the subject of some inappropriate behavior, but she didn’t want to believe them. She cited her friendship with the alleged perpetrators as the reason. It wasn’t until she returned to campus in Harrisonburg that the rumors turned to reality, and that reality was horrifying.
Images and a video of the incident had surfaced, showing a topless Butters on a bathroom floor, surrounded by three JMU Sigma Chi brothers–identified as Mike Lunney, Jay Dertzbaugh, and Nick Scallion–who were laughing and groping her lifeless body.
After discussing the incident–a clear sexual assault case–with her father, a cop, she decided not to notify the PCB police. Instead, they turned over the video to school officials, who handled the situation absolutely pathetically. The punishment? The three JMU students were handed expulsions AFTER graduation. After. Graduation. They essentially told them to finish school, then, just, you know, don’t come back. Embarrassing.
From WHSV:
An e-mail from JMU’s Office of Judicial Affairs titled “Final Decision in your Case” reads that all three students, Mike Lunney, Jay Dertzbaugh and Nick Scallion were responsible for sexual assault and harassment. It went on to say that the three would be expelled upon graduation, meaning they may not be on JMU’s campus for any reason after graduation. They would also not be allowed to walk at graduation.
Oh, but it’s cool because they also aren’t allowed to “walk” at graduation, which I’m sure was devastating news for these guys to hear they weren’t allowed to sit through a thrilling, three-hour ceremony and speech before receiving a piece of paper.
I know where I went to school, and I think it’s pretty standard across the board, that we were told we’d be immediately expelled for cheating on an exam. CHEATING ON AN EXAM–something that, hell, we all did.
Lace ’em up, JMU.
UPDATE: We have learned that the three guys are no longer members of Sigma Chi after getting kicked out.
[via WHSV]
One can’t help but wonder what may have been if Sarah Butters had simply gone to the police. Beyond the expense of taking on an out of state case, what else played on Sarah Butters’ mind- was there a feeling of shame, a feeling of doubt that somehow she was also complicit, disbelief that her ‘friends’ could take a course of action that on the surface was pushing the envelope of proprietary, had she come to even believe the idea that women are responsible for the harm that comes their way and how was it in the end that the university didn’t seek to involve police or was it a situation of not unnerving rampant frat brother culture that is so permissive of disparaging attitudes towards women?
http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2014/06/sarah-butters-sexually-assaulted-by-frat-brothers-but-given-a-free-pass/
10 years ago at 10:11 pmBlaming rape victims for being raped is a gr8 way to make everyone hate you
10 years ago at 11:52 amI love that TFM posted about this and named them in this. I hope this article keeps these men never find jobs or wives and what they did haunts them at night.
10 years ago at 11:13 pmIHSV?
10 years ago at 12:10 am“I swear to God, if I had a nickel for every time a girl has tried to initiate a rape fantasy with me . . . I’d have a significant amount of nickels”
10 years ago at 12:18 amThe school can’t do anything if it’s off campus.
10 years ago at 1:31 amUm no they can expel them that’s what all the fuss is about
10 years ago at 11:51 amPretty girl, and then three fucks come along and ruin her life….. People these days…
10 years ago at 1:36 amI’m not willing to condemn three men based solely on what this article says. I’m sure the school has more information and that is why the punishment was not more severe. I also refuse to believe that the quality men Sig Chi, generally, puts out would commit a heinous act like this.
10 years ago at 7:22 amRight. How could sigma chi’s do this!? Anyone else could’ve done, but just not those sigma chi boys! They can’t do anything wrong!
10 years ago at 11:53 amWorst part is, they werent even blackballed from the fraternity. One of them lived in the house all last year and all 3 of them were at EVERY sigma chi party. I personally saw them there all the time. NOT cool.
10 years ago at 8:02 amI hate that colleges won’t take an active stance against this. When something similar happened to me, the school put the two on social probation, which means nothing. And I was ostracized because I went to the police because I was “ruining their lives.” Thankfully, I had the support of most of the Greek community but I can imagine the shit this girl is going through. These boys should have been expelled on final decision and not given a diploma.
10 years ago at 8:19 amI really hope that some guys decide to take this matter into their own hands..or fists…or baseball bats
10 years ago at 8:41 am