TO THE EDITOR:
My name is Laura Carroll, and I am the survivor of the peeping incident that happened on the night of Thursday, Oct. 10.
I wanted to remind everyone that this is Carolina, and we do things differently here. When a member of our student body experiences trauma, we stand behind them just as strongly as we stand against Duke during basketball season. This is part of what makes our university so great.
Over the past few days I have experienced nothing but ridicule from the student body. Imagine being assaulted in such an intimate way, only to have to go to class the next day and hear people joking about what happened. Or going home to relax, only to open up Facebook and see comments about you being anally raped on Overheard at UNC.
Over four hundred of you liked a post poking fun at the Alert Carolina message. I’ve read your blaming kvetches, and opened the DTH to see my assault being called a “Peep Show,” as if my own body is entertainment for you.
No one would ever willingly subject themselves to this kind of hate and bullying — these last few days have been the hardest of my life.
Some of you have commented that if I was physically assaulted then no one would be joking, but I have proof of the opposite. In 2011, I was sexually assaulted, and an Alert Carolina message was sent out. I saw the same Facebook comments and kvetches then that I see today.
I was raped a few weeks ago and am trying to recover from all that has happened to me. Each time that I feel that I am somewhere safe, such as in my room or in class, something a fellow student says reminds me that my suffering is a joke to them. This is not okay. I am a real person with feelings and I am a Tar Heel like you.
It does not matter who the victim is; you might not know them but you can guarantee that they hear your “jokes” and feel hurt by them.
