A Texas A&M student went public this week with criticism of the University for letting an Aggie swimmer – who was found responsible by Texas A&M’s Title IX office for sexual abusing her in 2015 – return to school and competition.
Last week, Hannah Shaw tweeted her displeasure that “the boy who r*ped me is back on the swim team,” along with an e-mail response she got when she raised the issue with Texas A&M. Shaw’s tweet went viral, setting off a social media firestorm of conversation about the school’s handling of sexual abuse allegations.
Editor’s Note: SwimSwam typically doesn’t name survivors of sexual assault. Shaw publicly tweeted documents from the investigation bearing her name, and appeared on television this week with her criticism of how A&M handled the process.
According to documents tweeted by Shaw, the school’s Title IX office found Austin van Overdam responsible for sexual assaulting Shaw in September of 2015. On June 21, 2016, the school suspended van Overdam from June 21, 2016 through December 16, 2016.
Van Overdam was a member of the Texas A&M swimming & diving team at the time. USA Swimming’s database shows that van Overdam didn’t compete in any collegiate meets during that time, but did swim a number of club meets, including U.S. Olympic Trials about a week after his suspension began. He is listed in his team bio as taking a redshirt year in 2016-2017, but returned to NCAA competition this past season, including the NCAA Championships in March.
Shaw appeared on the TODAY show this morning alongside another A&M student, criticizing how the school punished student-athletes involved in sex abuse cases. The other student says that an Aggie football player exposed himself to her during a tutoring session.
“Two female students at Texas A&M say they’re furious about the way the school handled their sexual misconduct allegations.”-@MorganRadford reports pic.twitter.com/XARIOVeOG8
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 13, 2018
Texas A&M issued statements regarding their investigations into sexual misconduct. Two girls who claim they were sexually victimized shared what they want the university to know. @MorganRadford reports pic.twitter.com/yVxnw7Pmp6
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 13, 2018
SwimSwam has been in contact with Shaw regarding a more full-length interview. We also reached out to a local attorney who posted on Facebook saying he represented van Overdam in the school hearing, but haven’t received a response or official comment from van Overdam. Texas A&M hasn’t responded to our request for comment, but did release a public statement earlier this week noting that it can’t discuss individual cases. The Texas A&M statement laid out the school’s investigative process and said that “Texas A&M investigates every claim of sexual misconduct” and that “When violations are confirmed, sanctions are imposed in all cases.”
Shaw tweeted out the full documents she received from Texas A&M, which find van Overdam responsible on one sexual abuse violation, but not responsible for one other sexual abuse violation, one sexual contact violation and one violation the school terms “dating violence.”
Warning: the documents below do reference some specific sexual acts between Shaw and van Overdam. Sensitive readers should proceed with caution.
Sorry I only posted the last page #MeToo @InsideEdition pic.twitter.com/TkH9w7jlHT
— hannah 🍌 (@hannahslol) June 13, 2018
A person can consent to vaginal intercourse and still NOT want to have anal intercourse. If a person does NOT consent to a sexual act but is forced to comply, regardless of previous consent to OTHER activities, then it is assault.
Sexual assault is a traumatic event. Like most traumatic events, it takes time to process with varying emotions and responses between different individuals and within the same individual. It is not surprising she reportedly supported lighter sanctions at one time. She still could have been processing the trauma and the outcomes. Reporting assault, whether it’s to a university or the police or your best friend, is terrifying. To best support survivors, please start with: “I believe you.” … Read more »
https://twitter.com/bretton4/status/1006681238214795264
There’s more to the story.
I believe in our justice system, but I do also believe there are flaws. As a woman who has experienced sexual assault, it’s the attitude on this thread that makes it difficult for a woman to come out having been assaulted, especially as an athlete at a powerhouse school.
I am sorry for your pain. Who are these commenters anyway?
Nobody is victim blaming
He should not be allowed to attend A&M, but because of the internet this guy is now un-hireable for life yet he has never been even charged with a crime. Those university hearing records should not have been made public so she could tweet them to the world.
He had the chance to appeal the findings and didn’t.
He also didn’t know it would be tweeted around the world, plus put on national tv. He was actually found “not responsible” for 3 of the 4 accusations, yet those accusations are still out all over the internet forever.
If he was found guilty in a court of law, then he should do his time and pay his debt to society. Then hopefully become a good person and start life as a productive citizen.
But he didn’t get due process. He wasn’t even charged. And he will never be able to get hired by anyone who googles his name. A&M should have kicked him out of school and sealed the documents. Allowing the documents to get released should expose… Read more »
How could he be charged if there was no criminal investigation to begin with? Do you know if there was a criminal investigation?
I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know. Anon, you seem to know all the facts and are sure of his criminal guilt; please provide the facts. Due process isn’t necessary with you is it?
If there was no criminal investigation then it is impossible for him to be charged. Your argument is that he was not charged but that is an impossibility. He got due process with the university investigation which he had a lawyer there. He had the right to appeal the finding that he was responsible for rape but did not. If he was innocent surely he would have taken all measures to clear his name. Those are the public facts.
so no criminal investigation means that he’s guilty. wow
Now I know why I received down votes on SwimSwam a year and a half ago when I merely made an observation that Van Osterdam was no longer listed on the Aggie swim team roster.
Pretty sad state in Aggieland when the consequence for plagiarism is more severe than raping a fellow student. My Aggie’s friend misquoted, left out a source on a paper. Not exact on details but it was unintentional, more laziness and not checking paper over. Professor referred the student to honor council. Student failed class, was suspended a semester, had to take an seminar on plagarism and has *Academic Dishonesty noted on their official transcript.
This consequence for being found guilty of the rape is a ridiculous!
This is a red herring and, in any case, I’m sure that this case involved more than “laziness and not checking paper over”. It’s pretty easy to demonstrate plagiarism in this day and age of the internet and I’m sure it was intentional, otherwise the consequences would not have been as drastic.
I have heard the same complaints. Regular students called before that Title IX panel and they are hammered. Just does not seem to be any rational to this other than once again the athlete is given a pass.
I doubt being a swimmer at A&M gets you preferential treatment
There areTWO sides to EVERY story!
and someone NEVER went to the police!! I would have started there if it was me.
2 out of 3 sexual assaults are NOT reported.
You say that she never went to the police and that she should have, but we never really know how we would reacted in a situation where we felt taken advantage of. Most people want to forget it ever happened and act like it wasn’t exactly what they knew it was. You can say you would have contacted the police but you never REALLY know how you’d react. And also I am not saying this is the case, but what person would openly admit that they did something wrong in this situation… It’s hard to tell what’s real or not because of course he’s going to defend himself as if he did nothing wrong at all. It’s just a hard… Read more »
I am all for a College or University having an academic and honor code. But when it comes to something as serious as rape that should be left to our legal system which is designed to deal with it.
The big problem I see here is the standard they are using is preponderance of evidence which is just greater than 50% chance of it being true. From reading this it is apparent we are dealing a “He said/She said” situation of two individuals that were in an intimate relationship. And it was far from clear what happened as even this weak judicial system pointed out, “both students are unclear as to whether oral sex was consensual.” As for the… Read more »
You might get some insight if you read “Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town”
The problem with the preponderance of evidence standard in Title 9 actions are that there isn’t any rules for evidence. There isn’t even any requirement to have evidence. It is just a he-said, she-said, situation. And from what she published, it looks like to me that she agreed to some sexual acts, but not others.