Help End Campus Sexual Assault
Hi my name is Sarah Tubbs and I am a sexual assault survivor. During my final semester of college, almost exactly 3 years to this day, I had my innocence stolen from me when I became a victim of sexual assault. I was left with flashbacks, hypervigilance, nightmares and a complete loss of independence.
Unfortunately, for me and for many victims of sexual assault, my rape didn't stop there as the victimization continued.
When I reported the crime to the police they interrogated me, questioning the tightness of my clothing and withheld information. Then they somehow decided my attacker committed no crime. After being turned away by the criminal justice system, I reached out to our college process and reported the assault to the University.
And that is where the second rape continued. Through the University’s Community Standards process I was forced to act as my own advocate and to be in the same room as my rapist. They allowed my rapist to question me about raping me and made me question him about raping me. Ultimately, the University ignored its own definition of consent in order to protect its image and ruled that no assault was committed.
When the police and the University turned their backs on me, I had no other choice but to seek justice outside of the University’s flawed system while continuing to battle PTSD. I initiated a civil lawsuit against my rapist and SUNY, one of the first cases of its kind. I did not want another woman or man to have to survive the horrendous treatment and policies I had to endure.
I have now been in litigation for 2.5 years. Having successfully defeated a motion to dismiss in federal court, we are now proceeding to trial and require an expert witness in order to clearly present my case. This witness will hopefully provide me with the best opportunity to win this case and institute a policy change that will prevent other men and women from experiencing the cruel system that I did. I need to raise $25,000 to hire the expert witness. I am reaching out to you for your help in raising these funds.
I would ask if you could please contribute anything you can for this important fight and I truly appreciate any amount. Our deadline is January 31, 2017 to add this very crucial part to our case. If you could, please also share my story to help spread awareness and make our campaign as successful as possible.
Thank you so much! Below I have also attached links to new articles and speeches regarding my case.
Https://vimeo.com/122015933 http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/2015/02/22/stony-brook-student-prosecute-alleged-sex-attacker-lawsuit-says/23743857/ http://www.sbstatesman.com/2015/03/12/sarah-speaks-plaintiff-in-sexual-assault-case-addresses-flaws-in-stony-brook-judiciary-system/ http://longisland.news12.com/news/stony-brook-university-student-sarah-tubbs-sues-school-over-handling-of-sexual-assault-case-1.10041541 http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/former-stony-brook-university-student-speaks-out-on-alleged-sex-assault-1.10043520 http://cortlandt.dailyvoice.com/neighbors/paulin-reflects-on-sexual-assault-of-montrose-resident/522840/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbKZ4Djzmpc
