San Diego State University Director of Athletics John Wicker on Monday acknowledged that a rape survivor was brought in to address the school's male athletes after rape allegations against three football players first surfaced last year.
Wicker's acknowledgement came during a tense news conference that began with him and Aztec football coach Brady Hoke reading from prepared statements and then walking out when reporters pressed them with questions about the allegations.
The news conference followed a weekend that saw former SDSU star punter Matt Araiza released by the NFL's Buffalo Bills and Zavier Leonard cut by the Aztecs.
Last week, a civil suit filed by local attorney Dan Gilleon accused Araiza, Leonard and Nowlin "Pa'a" Ewaliko of gang-raping a then 17-year-old girl during an off-campus party last October. All three were on the team at the time.
During the news conference, both Wicker and Hoke read prepared statements.
However, following the statements, both Wicker and Hoke refused to answer questions and walked out when pressed by reporters.
About 15 minutes later, Wicker returned by himself to answer questions. When asked why Hoke wasn't with him, Wicker said as the athletic director, he is ultimately responsible.
"We have three pillars in this athletic department. It's athletic success, it's educational success, and it's through our Aztecs Going Pro program to help our student-athletes mature to be great human beings so that when they leave here, they can go out and be successful," Wicker said. "And so with that, we put a lot of shoulder programming around them."
Wicker confirmed that the athletics department brought in rape survivor Brenda Tracy to address SDSU's male athletes last fall.
"We brought Brenda Tracy in related to an incident that had been reported to us that SDPD (San Diego Police Department) was investigating," he said. "And we brought her in for enhanced education for our student-athletes — all of our male student-athletes."
SDSU has a sexual assault and domestic violence training program for athletes, and this training was supplemental to that, he said.
In a statement to KPBS, Tracy said the rape allegations were triggering for her as she was gang-raped at Oregon State University in 1998. She was not a student there. She said she knows what the young woman is going through and criticized SDSU for its handling of the case.
Resources at SDSU for sexual assault victims
• SDSU Counseling & Psychological Services: (619) 594-5220 (non-emergency)
• Counseling Access & Crisis Line: (888) 724-7240, www.sa.sdsu.edu/cps/
• Student Health Services, Calpulli Center: (619) 594-5281, shs.sdsu.edu/index.asp
• SDSU Police Department: (619) 594-1991
• Center for Community Solutions: (888) 385-4657 (bilingual rape crisis hotline), ccssd.org
"As I read more and more of the details of this case, it is becoming more obvious that SDSU did not do the right thing," Tracy said. "Institutions should not defer to police investigations."
The university has been scrutinized for delaying its Title IX investigation for nearly 10 months as the SDPD conducted its investigation. The school only began its investigation on Aug. 1.
"San Diego Police Department had jurisdiction over said incident, and they asked us not to interfere potentially with their investigation," Wicker said. "And we made that decision."
Wicker became emotional when asked if the program was doing enough to protect students.
"Again, one of our pillars is to create great human beings," he said, before taking a long pause to fight back emotions. "And it's hard when the training you provide may not have been enough."
For his part, Hoke said he takes the report very seriously and is not protecting any players.
“There's no protecting anyone. We're not here to do that, and that's part of being accountable,” he said.
