There were 71 comments to her article on the University of Connecticut’s The Daily Campus online edition when I read it. Most of the comments were supportive, praising Melissa Bruen for her bravery in writing about her ordeal, for coming forward and saying something, for fighting back when she was attacked.

Other comments were not so kind, criticizing her for what she said she was wearing (a tube top), calling her a liar for various reasons (saying she lied for fame, for popularity, or to make a good story to go out on as a graduating senior), slamming her for drinking (three beers and two screwdrivers — one commenter suggested she was too drunk to know what was going on) or for her physique (she calls it a “swimmer’s” body and somehow that was worthy of comment); comments claiming that she abused her Editor-in-Chief position to put her unworthy or poorly-written story on the front page (instead of in some other buried section where it belonged). She was also treated negatively for her clothing in the picture that accompanied the article (the t-shirt — it has the word “Lucky” on it and so was distasteful), and the commenter questioned her story because of the picture, despite the healing hand bruises still visible on her arms.

What exactly happened? She writes in her article that she was sitting on the ground against a telephone pole at about 1am, on a well-lit and populated path, talking on the phone to a friend who was coming to pick her up, when a man picked her up by her shoulders, pushed her against the pole, and started dry humping her and moaning in her ear. Once she realized she didn’t know him, she pushed him away, and when he came toward her again she fought him off - hard. A group of watching “men” pulled her off when she pinned her would-be-attacker to the ground and punched him in the face. But what happened to her didn’t end there.

He got up and ran off, yelling at me, as if I were the would-be rapist.

“You just assaulted me,” I yelled in my own defense - first to him and then, to anyone who would listen, “He just assaulted me.”

Since the police were shutting down the parties at Celeron, there were thousands of people on the path.

Another man, around 6′1″, approached me and said, “You think that was assault?” and he pulled down my tube top, and grabbed my breasts. More men started to cheer. It didn’t matter to the drunken mob that my breasts were being shown or fondled against my will. They were happy to see a topless girl all the same. I punched him in the face, and someone shoved me into a throng of others. I was surrounded, but I kept swinging and hitting until I was able to break free of the circle they had formed.

She ran down the path, then collapsed crying and screamed the name of a friend she saw in the crowd, who came to help. She reported the attack to nearby police, but no one was arrested in the throng of students. However her point isn’t to fault the police, or the school — it’s to fault the community that allowed this sort of thing to happen. She wasn’t alone in some alley somewhere; she was in a populated and well-lit place, and still wound up with painful bruises on her cheek, arms, and legs. The fact that no one there helped her is troubling. The fact that people cheered her attacker is disgusting.

I was raised to fight back, so I made sure to get a few good swings in. My bruises will fade, and I will move on. But if you ever see someone being assaulted, do the right thing.

Another disturbing aspect is the vitriol in the responses to her story, and the effect that has on other victims. As was pointed out on Jezebel, the most heartbreaking of the comments I read was from someone only identified as “uconn”, who was responding directly to the nastier of the comments directed toward Melissa.

“It’s comments like these that assure me that I did the right thing at not reporting my sexual assault. I never wanted to face the battery of verbal assault that melissa is facing right now after facing the sexual one that she faced the other weekend..and the emotional and physical one that she will torment her for the REST OF HER LIFE just like the one that will face me.”

It’s true that it’s up to administration and police to help make a college campus (or anywhere, really) a safe place, but it’s also up to us as good people. To reiterate what Melissa says at the end of her article; the message we want to bring home from this mess:

“[I]f you ever see someone being assaulted, do the right thing.”

My Spring Weekend Nightmare [printer friendly version]

My Spring Weekend Nightmare [with comments - free registration required
(though I was able to browse it at first without registering, then the registration block kicked in)]

College Senior Is Sexually Assaulted While Group Of Dudes Cheer [Jezebel Article]

UConn Student Editor Describes Being Sexually Assaulted [Hartford Courant]