Rape victim might be expelled from university for speaking out against attacker

Rape victim might be expelled from university for speaking out against attacker:
Landen Gambill, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina,said the university sent her an e-mail informing her that she wasbeing charged with an Honor Code violation for “intimidating” heralleged rapist by speaking about her assault and the school’streatment of the case. Such a violation could lead to her expulsionfrom the university – even though she never revealed her allegedrapist’s name publicly.
“Obviously, I’m afraid. I never meant to make anyone mad atme [by speaking out],” Gambill told the Huffington Post.“I’m mostly surprised at just how crazy it is, that they’rewilling to charge me with something just because my rapist isfeeling uncomfortable.”
Gambill claims she was raped and stalked by her ex-boyfriend,who is a fellow UNC student. She claims to be traumatized from thesexual assault and that reporting it to the university only madethings worse.
“If I had known what would happen to me through this system,I don’t know if I would have made the same decision again,” shetold the Daily Tar Heel in late 2012. Gambill claims the universityhandled her case inappropriately and that school officials blamedher for the assault.
“They were not only offensive and inappropriate, but theywere so victim-blaming,” she said. During her Honor Courttrial, in which Gambill attempted to press charges against herattacker, she was asked why she didn’t simply break up with herboyfriend when she noticed him being abusive. The court also usedher past suicide attempt against her, allegedly implying that shewas “emotionally unstable”.
In the end, the alleged rapist was never charged or punished,and still attends UNC.
“It’s incredibly clear that those people had no idea whatsexual assault is, what consent is,” Gambill told the Daily TarHeel.
Distraught about the school’s handling of the case, Gambilljoined 64 other students and teachers and filed a legal complaintwith the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights,claiming that UNC administrators underreported cases of sexualassault on campus and handled such cases inappropriately.
Gambill has also spoken up about the school’s handling of hercase, which she considers a grave injustice against her. Speakingin front of media representatives and at rallies, the young womanhas brought the issue into the national spotlight.
Days after news about the federal complaint against UNC brokeout, Gambill received the e-mail that threatened to expel her. Thee-mail said that her attacker filed a complaint against the youngwoman for creating an intimidating environment for him -- eventhough his identity remains publicly unknown.
If charged, Gambill could be expelled while her alleged rapistremains at UNC.
“This type of gross injustice is the reason why UNC studentsare speaking out and demanding answers,” Gambill told Jezebel.“The reason why I’m so vocal about this isn’t because I justwant justice for my case. I want to make sure no one else has to gothrough this if they want to report an assault to theuniversity.”