EAST LANSING (MI)
Yahoo Sports
April 12, 2019
By Jack Baer
A Michigan State student has come forward after alleging in an anonymous Title IX lawsuit last year that three unnamed Michigan State basketball players raped her and that the school’s counseling center discouraged her from reporting it, according to ESPN.
Bailey Kowalski, 22, revealed her identity Wednesday to The New York Times and spoke to a room full of reporters on Thursday. Four years after the alleged rape, Kowalski is nearing graduation and trying to send a message of support to other victims:
“I’m about to graduate in May, and for most of my college career, this has been a heavy burden on me and my family. … I am no longer afraid. I’m empowered to do this,” she said Thursday. “I know that there are others who exist and they too are afraid. I want to be an example for them. The silent survivors matter and are worth fighting for.”
In her Title IX lawsuit, Kowalski alleges that she, then a freshman sports journalism major, met members of the Michigan State basketball team at a bar on April 11, 2015, was invited to a party back at one of their apartments, began feeling discombobulated despite not having much to drink, was taken to a bedroom and thrown onto a bed where she was raped by three players.
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