If you’re looking for any indication that Mel Tucker hasn’t embraced Brenda Tracy’s rape survivor or advocate program on college campuses across the country, look no further than his reaction when he was publicly called out for his behavior.
Kenny Jacoby of USA Today, who initially broke the story that Tracy filed a Title IX complaint of sexual harassment against Tucker in December, reported today that Tucker allegedly made false and misleading statements to Michigan State University external investigator Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger.
In addition to making an inaccurate statement about where he was at the time he called Tracy, which Tucker admitted was masturbating and which ultimately led to Tracy filing the Title IX complaint, Tucker claimed that he and Tracy in a romantic relationship, which Tracy denies. According to USA TodayAfter that phone call, Tucker and Tracy did not speak for months.
Meanwhile, their assistants were planning Tracy’s third visit to campus: an in-person workout with coaches and players scheduled for July 25.
Tucker canceled that training three days earlier, the investigation report shows. When Tracy spoke to him by phone on August 2 to find out why, she told the investigator in her interview that Tucker insinuated he would hurt her career if she spoke about his behavior. He never rescheduled her visit and they never spoke again.
In a public statement Tucker denied any wrongdoing and denied canceling Tracy’s upcoming presentation, claiming that he had “never canceled a presentation.” Tucker then blamed the postponement of the presentation on staffing and scheduling issues, saying Tracy “chose to file her complaint rather than continue with the training.”
But according to Jacoby Tucker told Veidlinger something very different.
When Veidlinger asked in his March interview whether he had played a role in canceling Tracy’s visit, Tucker said, “Yes, I absolutely did,” the report shows, and that he could not recall any discussion about it moving from Tracy to January. Such timing wouldn’t make sense, he added, because most of his new players wouldn’t be on campus yet.
But perhaps the most stunning reporting in Jacoby’s piece comes from the revelation that Tucker not only blamed Tracy for gossiping about his marriage, and allegedly told others that his relationship with his wife was “on the rocks,” but also claimed that ESPN’s Paula Lavigne, who regularly reports on sexual assault in college football, was “investigating how Tracy is ‘handling her business’ by claiming to be a rape survivor.” Lavigne, however told USA Today “Neither the organization nor Tracy is or has been the target of any investigative reporting.”
What makes all of Tucker’s claims so hard to swallow is that for a while he presented himself to Tracy as a supporter of her cause, as one of the rare men who “got it” when it came to sexual assault and misconduct. That he really understood why so many women don’t report sexual assault, namely that they fear they won’t be believed.
But when Tucker found himself among the suspects, he returned to the same tactics that keep so many women quiet to begin with. He called her a liar, suggested she had ulterior motives and claimed she made false accusations to make a lot of money. And anyway, even if her claims are true, the whole thing was consensual because they were in a relationship. And anyway, he points out, where is the evidence that she is even a rape survivor?
Sounds incredibly familiar.
It’s the same playbook that powerful men use every time they’re accused of sexual misconduct. The accuser is a liar, probably crazy. Who knows why she’s accusing him of sexual misconduct? But she’s definitely looking for money. Or scorned. Or just jealous of another woman in his life. The faces and names change, but the accusations against the accuser are always the same. It would be laughable if so many young men didn’t buy this hook, line and sinker. And it has a fundamental impact on the way too many people in our society view sexual violence. The reason the #MeToo movement was so groundbreaking was not that so many women made accusations against powerful men, but that so many people believed the women. And even that was largely because they came out in large groups against the same man.
A lonely woman who takes on a powerful famous man knows what awaits her. Being dragged online by total strangers who declare her a liar, despite knowing next to nothing about what actually happened. Probably a threat to her safety. She may have to leave her home. Especially when her name is dragged through the mud. Not to mention the mental toll it takes on the victim.
If there’s one man who posed as an agent for change, a proponent of #BelieveWomen, but resorted to the same old tropes once he was the one in his crosshairs, it’s Mel Tucker. And be ashamed of him.
[Update Monday, 11:33 am ET]: Deadspin contacted Paula Lavigne, who gave us the following statement:
Brenda Tracy has been a source of information and opinion for me and ESPN over the years about Title IX law and university policies on sexual assault. Several stories have featured Tracy’s comments and the work of her advocacy group, Set the Expectation. That was the extent of my reporting on Tracy and her organization. Neither the organization nor Tracy is or has been the target of any investigative reporting. I am perplexed that Mel Tucker would respond to a sexual harassment complaint by involving me or ESPN.
Furthermore, Lavigne told Deadspin that she was “really shocked” when she saw Tucker refer to her as an investigator on Tracy, saying she had no idea “how or why someone would say that.”