SWBTS responds to sexual abuse lawsuit

Nassar was the team doctor employed by the gymnastics team. If you wanted to perform, you had to see him. People complained about him early and often. The institution ignored all of those complaints.

At SWBTS this guy was a janitor… Plus, the victim/survivor had some form of voluntary relationship with him.She allowed him to stay in her life by not immediately reporting his stalking, then violent threats, the rape to the police. Plus it took a long time for her to report. It wasn’t until after all the violence that she reported. SWBTS then acted…

Totally different cases… not even close in the level of responsibility by the institution.

MSU/Nassar involved girls. Yes, minors.

SWBTS involves a fully grown adult woman graduate student.

….of why victims don’t report: look closely at the handling of the sexual assaults of at least 36 victims by Jeffrey Epstein. For reasons I don’t understand at all, Epstein got off with a little over a year in a country club jail when comparable crimes (e.g. Larry Nassar’s) put the perpetrator in jail for life. Hoping and praying that the current DOJ investigation administers a good deal of justice this time around, but I cannot blame sexual assault victims for saying “why bother?” when they read stuff like this. (outside chance is that Alex Acosta might get some time in the Big House—and I’m not saying Michigan Stadium with that one)

[Bert Perry]

….of why victims don’t report: look closely at the handling of the sexual assaults of at least 36 victims by Jeffrey Epstein. For reasons I don’t understand at all, Epstein got off with a little over a year in a country club jail when comparable crimes (e.g. Larry Nassar’s) put the perpetrator in jail for life. Hoping and praying that the current DOJ investigation administers a good deal of justice this time around, but I cannot blame sexual assault victims for saying “why bother?” when they read stuff like this. (outside chance is that Alex Acosta might get some time in the Big House—and I’m not saying Michigan Stadium with that one)

Once again, Epstein involves minors. Worse, it involves him bringing in international minors, which is sex trafficking. He did this for years, and was known to be doing it. I have heard about this guy for years. So, to compare this to the SWBTS case by having it in the same thread as it is absurd, quite frankly. ONCE AGAIN, the SWBTS student was an adult female graduate student. No comparison here, even in the case of talking about why people do not report. International girls illegally brought in to the US versus an adult female graduate student… think about it.

Mark, “hearsay” is when one person hears another person say something. What you’re referring to is “eyewitness testimony”, and while that’s subject to cross examination and the like, it is admissible in court. Hearsay is not.

Regarding the allegations, having read the complaint, the basis of the suit is that evidently Patterson knew of the rapist’s criminal and moral history, including violence and being quite “loose” sexually, and not only admitted him, but did so in a way that gave him (a) very little supervision and (b) keys to the dorms.

Why didn’t she just go to the police? Well, if you knew that even in “good” states, only 20% of sexual assault allegations were adequately investigated (even with basics like “interview the accuser and accused”), and your rapist was armed, had the key to your home, and was a bit nuts, what would you do?

In an ideal world, I’d agree that Title IX would be simple; a student would be suspended when arrested or indicted, and expelled when convicted, and that would be the end of that. Almost all Title IX investigations are of criminal offenses, and universities really don’t have proper incentive to investigate these things properly because a “successful” investigation makes them look bad. That said, universities are still in this business, are required to be in it to receive federal loans and grants, and Patterson’s own testimony (by illegally releasing Title IX documents to friends) tells us that the core of this woman’s testimony is true; that Patterson was not taking the process seriously.

Thanks for your response. I still would like to ask if anyone holds a McDonald’s manager to the same level you all are expecting Paige Patterson to be held at.

Is the McDonald’s Manager:

• A Christian
• Charged with leading a Christian institution
• Responsible for complying with federal/state statues on sexual assault
• Leader of the SBC’s “Conservative” resurgence and a nationally recognized figure in our circles

I seem to recall something about teachers being held to higher standards than those who do not teach.

MSU/Nassar involved girls. Yes, minors.

SWBTS involves a fully grown adult woman graduate student.

Oh, well just because she’s fully grown and adult we should just ignore it entirely and believe that this is all a made-up story. That seems…..well, I’ll let others fill in the blank.

This is the second credible accusation that Patterson covered up sex assaults, at two different institutions, spanning more than a decade. I’m finding it very, very hard to give him the benefit of any doubts.

Seriously - what is wrong with you? Do you have some kind of personal relationship with Patterson?

She allowed him to stay in her life by not immediately reporting his stalking, then violent threats, the rape to the police. Plus it took a long time for her to report. It wasn’t until after all the violence that she reported. SWBTS then acted…

You really, really need to read the civil complaint. I’ll leave it at that.

This is a civil court case, not an argument of Christian responsibility. You can’t mix the two in a court case.

Yes, I read all of the complaint. All of it. Did you?

I do not remember the SEBTS details, but if you read the complaint for the SWBTS, Patterson called the police when Doe reported the situation. He hid nothing.

Yes, there is a huge difference between adults and minors.

I never said anything was made up. I said the victim should have reported way earlier. When she did report, she only reported to SWBTS, but only way later after all the incidents. She never called the police independently. When SWBTS heard of the situation, they called the police.

you go to his supervisor and lodge a formal complaint. If that person ignores you, you go to their boss, and up and up until you get to the top.

Once a crime happens, you call the police.

What happened here, is none of that…

So what the victim/survivor does is sue the school saying they created a toxic atmosphere so the victim/survivor saw no use in doing any of the above. Ok, we’ll see what the court says.

Did Doe ever compete the complaint process to try to get the perpetrator charged for rape? He is the real criminal. Is she interested in him being charged? Or is this all Paige Patterson’s fault?

It’s worth noting that a lot of Nassar’s victims were actually adults when he abused them. Yes, many of the most famous were children, but the abuse of Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Amanda Thomashow, and many others continued into adulthood. Mark, you really need to start to come up to speed on how these things work. I’ve got personal experience saying that around 1980, many police would not do a serious investigation at all, and a recent Star-Tribune report (again) reveals that even in the best states, most reports are not adequately investigated.

And if that report is not adequately investigated, the perp is still out on the streets, ready and able to abuse the victim even more savagely. For that matter, there are a lot of places where even “ordinary” crimes don’t get adequately investigated, and as a result, reporting for them isn’t as high as you’d think, either. As a result, if you make it “safe” to tell someone, you are going to have people coming out of the woodwork, telling you about things that either need to make it to the police, or where it’s too late to file charges, and you simply have to help them pick up the pieces. If you doubt me on this, look up FBI reporting/conviction statistics for a variety of crimes. It’s really pretty dismal.

So let me get this right….In the complaint, Jane alleges that the janitor had a small arsenal of firearms both on and off campus that he used to threaten her with. Patterson or whoever calls the police, who comes on campus, confiscates the firearms from exactly where Jane said they would be - some of which, by the way, are also illegal, matching more of her descriptions - and Patterson, by his own admission, expels the janitor that very day for doing exactly what Jane said the janitor did.

But there’s no chance whatsoever that Jane Roe’s testimony about being raped by the Janitor isn’t true? If so, how do you account for the emails included in her complaint about Patterson wanting to talk with her with no witnesses? And especially how do you account for his casual admission to the SWBTS staff that he needs to break her down without witnesses present?

Tom Clancy said it best - there are lies, and then there are stupid lies. This is falling into the latter category.

This is a civil court case, not an argument of Christian responsibility. You can’t mix the two in a court case.

You most certainly can. Moral culpability falls within the jurisdiction of both spheres, and the spheres are complementary, not antagonistic, of each other.

Yes, I read all of the complaint. All of it. Did you?

I read enough that I was sufficiently horrified to put it down and walk away several times. I don’t think I finished the entire thing, no.

I do not remember the SEBTS details, but if you read the complaint for the SWBTS, Patterson called the police when Doe reported the situation. He hid nothing.

And yet it’s so weird that Patterson is alleged to have acted the same way:

• in both cases.
• Using almost the exact same phrasing and behavior.
• Over ten years apart.
• By two separate women.
• On opposite sides of the United States.

Maybe you ought to re-read the SEBTS allegations from a year ago. They’re pretty consistent.

Yes, there is a huge difference between adults and minors.

I’m sure that being raped 13 year old is so much better than being raped at 19 or 21 or even 43. Thanks for clearing that right up. You’re acting like the crime / sin changes just because the person is a different age.

I never said anything was made up. I said the victim should have reported way earlier. When she did report, she only reported to SWBTS, but only way later after all the incidents. She never called the police independently. When SWBTS heard of the situation, they called the police.

The whole point of her complaint is that she did report and Patterson shut it down to preserve the testimony and reputation of the school, and to spare her alleged assailant from blemishes that might hinder him from ministry. He also needed to protect a relationship with the parents of students. Patterson admits that major donors and parents treated SEBTS/SWBTS like it was a “reform school”.

According to the PDF, Roe was raped in late 2014. We have an email from Patterson to staff in August 2015, in the complaint, telling his staff that “her mother is nuts!” and that they should set up a meeting which they had a few days later. This wasn’t a case of years passing and now all of a sudden it’s just coming up.

Let’s say Patterson is a huge jerk. Legally speaking, so what?

Did he rape the woman?

When she reported to the school did he call the police?

Did Patterson then fire the guy?

Is Patterson responsible for the guy “owning an arsenal of weapons”?

If he did own that arsenal, how were SWBTS and Patterson supposed to know it if no one reported him?

If the guy raped the woman, how were SWBTS and Patterson supposed to know if the victim didn’t report it?

You are not answering any of the basic facts. You just keep saying how bad Patterson was. So what? What did he legally do wrong?

Mark,see my comment from yesterday at 9pm. If it’s not clear to you, mention the situation—SWBTS knew of the criminal record and not only gave him a key to all the dorms, but did so without adequate supervision—to a tradesman who owns a plumbing or other business. To draw a picture, Home Depot does background checks on all contractors for a reason, as does my company. To not act on one is to say “please, please, please sue me.”

The bungling of the Title IX investigation after things went south is really just the icing on the cake, as is Patterson’s smuggling of documents related to that investigation to the press via his friends. Overall, the big reality here is that associations have a responsibility to follow best practices to keep their constituents safe.

That is the claimant’s assertion… it is not a fact yet.

has the raper been charged with anything? If not, why not.