Overview

#RapedAtSpelman is a sexual assault controversy surrounding a detailed account of an alleged gang rape incident at Morehouse College posted by an anonymous freshman student at Spelman College on Twitter in early May 2015.

Background

On May 2nd, 2016, the @RapedAtSpelman^[1] Twitter feed was launched by an anonymous person claiming to be a freshman enrolled at Spelman College, a historically black women's liberal arts school and part of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Consortium, in Atlanta, Georgia. On the ad-hoc Twitter account, the author revealed a story of how she was recently gang raped by several students from Morehouse College, a historically black all-male college and a fellow member school of the AUC Consortium, and further explained that she decided to come forward through an anonymous Twitter account out of fear of retaliation from other students.^[2] In addition, the author also claimed that the dean of the school told her that “Spelman & Morehouse are brother & sister” and she should “give them a pass” (shown below) during a meeting with the Dean in the wake of the incident.

Notable Developments

Following the creation of the account, Twitter users outraged by the allegations began posting messages in support of the anonymous student along with the hashtag #RapedByMorehouse^[3] and #RapedAtSpelman^[4] (shown below). Additionally, several protests were held by students at both Spelman and Morehouse.

On May 4th, BuzzFeed News published an article about the online reaction to the Twitter account. The same day, Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell posted an open letter^[5] to students of the university, announcing that the college had found a new Title IX and compliance director. The same day, Morehouse College President John Silvanus Wilson, Jr. released a statement^[7] claiming that "the information anonymously shared on Twitter was our very first indication of this incident" and that the college would "pursue the investigation to the fullest extent possible." On May 5th, Twitter user @iAmRoyal^[8] posted a statement purportedly written by the creator of the @RapedAtSpelman account (shown below).

The same day, NBC Los Angeles^[9] reported that no police report had been filed and no investigation was being conducted by Atlanta police because no one had come forward to report the crime. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the rape allegations, including NY Daily News,^[6] Jezebel,^[10] The Washington Post,^[11] The Daily Dot,^[12] NBC News^[13] and CNN.^[14]

Search Interest

External References