NorCal cheerleader protests rape case by carrying mattress around campus
ATHERTON, Calif. -- A Menlo College student who says she was raped is taking a unique approach to protest the way the school is handling her case. She says her assailant, also a student, is still on campus.
Christhy Trejo-Cruz is carrying a rubber mattress everywhere she goes on campus in Atherton.
The 18-year-old sophomore cheerleader says it's a literal expression of the emotional weight of being a rape victim. It's also a protest of how the school and the district attorney's office handled her case.
"It's not fair. No one listens, no one is there. People say they're there, but they're not," said Trejo-Cruz.
Trejo-Cruz's story starts the night of Oct. 4. She and her girlfriends were partying at the dorms. They met another group of students, which included the student whom she says sexually assaulted her. That student went back to Trejo-Cruz's room, along with her friends.
"We were playing drinking games. I wasn't familiar with it, so he was explaining it," said Trejo-Cruz.
Trejo-Cruz says she became very drunk. She went to bed. He climbed in with her, and that's when her girlfriends left the room.
"I kept saying I wanted to go to sleep. I kept saying I wasn't comfortable doing it because I was drunk. I was too drunk to understand what was happening. He did it anyway," said Trejo-Cruz.
Trejo-Cruz later told school officials what happened. A judicial board comprised of faculty and students held a hearing. The college gave ABC7 News a statement, which says in part that their decision was "to bar the male student who was involved in the incident from our campus for any purpose other than to attend classes."
Trejo-Cruz says that's not enough, certainly not on a campus of only 700 students.
"He's still enrolled in my school and I can still run into him in my buildings," added Trejo-Cruz.
The college also reported the incident to police. They gave the results of their investigation to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office. They declined to charge the case, saying there wasn't enough evidence.
But as Trejo-Cruz told others about her story, several female students confessed they too were victimized, but never told anyone.
"Because they're scared of what will happen and they knew nothing will happen, like for instance, now," said Trejo-Cruz.
Trejo-Cruz saw a news story about a Columbia University student in New York who protested the school's handling of her rape case by carrying a mattress around campus because her assailant was still allowed to attend classes.
Now she wants to send that same message: speak out and fight back, if you too are a victim.
