Powerful Message Hits Home

Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – In 1998, Brenda Tracy was raped by four men, three of them Oregon State University football players.

On Monday, she spoke to the Central Michigan student-athletes and coaches. Her message: You are the solution, not the problem.

She told her heart-wrenching and at times cringe-inducing story, in graphic detail, of that night two decades ago in Corvallis, Ore. to a rapt audience of Chippewa football and men's basketball players in the meeting room at the Indoor Athletic Complex.

"I don't know how you could sit through that, if you have a soul, and not have it impact you at a very fundamental level," CMU football coach John Bonamego said. "It's about doing the right thing, it's about being responsible and being a leader. This is a great presentation. It's going to have a lasting impact on our program, and we will participate in bringing support and awareness to this cause."

Tracy, who was 24 and a mother of two young boys at the time of the assault, has become an activist and has spoken to some 80 organizations – mostly men's college athletic teams – across the country for the past two years.

It never, she said, gets easier. And she frequently became tearful throughout the presentation. The mental, emotional and physical trauma she experiences every time she speaks to a group motivates her.

Her goal, she said, is to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

"I really believe that maybe I won't change the world, but maybe I'll inspire someone to change the world," she said. "I have to say that if I wasn't getting a positive response I wouldn't do this work, I wouldn't go in there and open that wound over and over and over. It's kind of like running an emotional marathon.

"It's (the response) really encouraging and it motivates me to keep on doing this."

Her message hit home with the Chippewas.

"One person's decision can affect an entire family's life, one person's action can mess up 16 years, 15 years, over a decade in people's lives," junior defensive lineman Mike Danna said. "It's really sad. It boosts my awareness and makes me want to step out of my comfort zone and help somebody else. I hope it boosts awareness for all of my teammates and they take this to heart and try to help somebody else, to encourage somebody, if they've been through it, to seek help and not to feel ashamed. They're not at fault."

Tracy said she focuses on male athletes because men are the solution to sexual assault. She said statistics show that 98 percent of sexual assaults are perpetrated by men on men, women and children.

"I think if women could stop it we would have already done it," she said. "Men are the missing component in this entire thing. We're talking to men of influence on their campus."

She said it is up to the men who do not commit sexual assault to buy-in and pledge to join women in taking a stand against those who do. Because football and basketball players are generally among the highest profile people on any given college campus, they can be the leading agents in spearheading the change.

It's about "good guys who don't commit these crimes," she said. "All of us pushing back on that percentage that are committing these crimes. You can't talk about them as a problem unless you're also willing to talk about them as a solution."

CMU senior defensive lineman Mitch Stanitzek said he was profoundly affected by Tracy's presentation.

"She's an extremely strong women, what she's been through, and the impact she is making is amazing," he said. She talks about setting an expectation. Sexual violence is a very serious thing. Having a high profile in the community you've got to set that standard high and be a good example. It really can make a difference to a lot of people."

Tracy, who, in addition to traveling the country and addressing teams, spends time raising money for local agencies which aid victims of sexual assault, has a website brendatracy.com and uses the Twitter hashtag #SetTheExpectation.

Junior Kevin McKay of the men's basketball team said Tracy's presentation will leave a lasting impression.

"It was graphic, to the core, and had us thinking," he said. "This made us feel something. Makes you think about all the women who are in our lives, and all the women who aren't in our lives, and motivates you to do something for those women and not just be bystanders.

"You can't be present just in the lives of the women in your life, you have to be present in the lives of everyone."

Players Mentioned

Mike Danna

Mitch Stanitzek

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