Student survivor of alleged rapes sends open letter to UO via her attorney

From the ODE:

An open letter from a fellow Duck:

The past few months have, undeniably, been the hardest and most challenging time in my life. This is such an overwhelming experience and one that I hope that no other student on campus ever has to live through. Given what has transpired on campus recently, I have at times wondered whether I ever should have told anyone about what had happened.

I know a lot of people are angry. I am angry, too. I am angry with the culture that appears to exist in our athletic department that prioritizes winning over safety of our students. I cannot fathom how our basketball coach recruited someone who was in the middle of a suspension for another sexual assault to come to Eugene. I think that students, faculty, and other community members have been asking some very needed questions of our athletic department, and I am not satisfied with the answers they have provided. I think that we all deserve better explanations and real transparency.

Despite my frustration, it is important to me to thank the Dean of Students office. They have been very kind and supportive of me and I can’t thank them enough. I’m not sure I would still be on campus if it weren’t for their help.

I know this has stirred up a lot of issues on campus and some of them are bigger than my incident. My sincere hope, though, is that as a school UO can get through this and come out in a better place at the end. I still love our school and I want it to be the best and safest place anywhere in the country.

The letter was sent from her lawyer, John Clune of Hutchinson Black and Cook LLC. While UO’s attorneys still refuse to post their resumes – or even their names – on the GC website, Mr. Clune clearly has extensive relevant experience:

… In recent years John has focused a substantial amount of his practice on representation of students and families on campus rape/Title IX matters, and adds this expertise to the firm’s existing Title IX litigation group of Baine Kerr, Kim Hult and Chris Ford.

John started his career as a criminal prosecutor in the mountains of Colorado and served as Chief Deputy District Attorney for Eagle County. After leaving the prosecutors’ office, John spent several years in a litigation based private practice representing individuals and corporations in a wide array of criminal and civil matters. In 2007, John started the Boulder law firm of Victim Justice, PC, developing a national practice representing victims of sexual assault and other violent crimes in a variety of litigation. In 2009, John co-founded the Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center, a pro-bono non-profit organization dedicated to the enforcement of the rights of crime victims.

John has additionally represented clients in a number of high-profile cases including the sexual assault civil matter against Kobe Bryant, the civil lawsuit against MLB player Johan Santana, and several actions against schools for Title IX violations. John’s cases have been featured on many national news outlets including 60 Minutes, the Today Show, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN, and the New York Times and is a regular speaker on navigating media coverage of high profile litigation.

Meanwhile, word is that UO has spent $150K on outside lawyers just in the last month. How much of that do you think the academic budget is on the hook for? More details when I get a response for payments and invoices from the UO public records office.