Handling of rape claim at Brown raises questions

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - William McCormick III crossed the wrought-iron gates of Brown University on a full scholarship, a champion wrestler from Wisconsin who expected four years at an Ivy League institution known for educating generations of bright and enterprising minds.

He lasted mere weeks.

In September 2006, he was accused of stalking, harassing and ultimately raping a female acquaintance - allegations he says are false. The accuser was a third-generation legacy student who, when first reporting trouble with McCormick, also mentioned that her father was an "alum and a big supporter of Brown."

The day after the rape allegations were made, McCormick was called into a meeting with administrators, barred from campus and put on a flight home pending a disciplinary hearing.

The following month, McCormick was gone for good.

Before the hearing, he signed a confidential agreement - under pressure, he says, from a lawyer for the accuser's family - in which he agreed to withdraw from Brown. In exchange, the accuser agreed to let the matter drop.

A Brown administrator agreed to reflect on his transcript that he had withdrawn for "medical reasons" but also told him he was ineligible for readmission, even though he had never been found responsible for rape. McCormick transferred to Bucknell University, which says he's a student in good standing.

The school allowed the matter to be closed through a private contract instead of a traditional fact-finding hearing that could have vindicated McCormick or established that an assault had actually occurred. The arrangement was meant to provide a tidy outcome to a dispute fraught with emotion and wildly divergent accounts.

Brown insists it acted properly. But a federal lawsuit from McCormick and e-mails reviewed by The Associated Press raise messy questions about the handling of the case.

The lawsuit alleges that administrators failed to adequately investigate the accusations, and permitted a blameless student to be railroaded from campus to placate a major donor.

There is another possibility, though - that Brown administrators deemed the allegations credible but allowed the complaint to be quietly disposed of, freeing someone accused of rape to wipe the slate clean as he transferred to another school.

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Will McCormick is, by all accounts, a physically imposing man.

Six-foot-five, more than 250 pounds and a force on the wrestling mat, he went 43-0 and was a state champion in his senior year at Milwaukee's Heritage Christian School. He was bulky but also bookish, more focused on making the honor roll than on partying or flirting with girls, recalled teammate J.P. Janik.

The Waukesha, Wis., native was accepted early decision at Brown. Among his early residence hall acquaintances was a freshman from an affluent, suburban New York City background - an accomplished student who in high school helped establish a charity. Her father was in finance, a Brown alumnus and generous donor to and fundraiser for the school.

The AP generally does not identify people who say they were sexually assaulted, and is not naming the family to avoid identifying the woman.

His lawyer says the relationship was friendly, though not romantic. It soured quickly.

On Sept. 5, 2006, the first day of classes and one week after orientation, the woman and her roommate approached their resident adviser - a fellow student - to complain that McCormick was acting "creepy" and following her around. At 2 the next morning, the adviser spoke with Carla Hansen, an associate dean of student life.

The young woman said McCormick was telling people they were dating when they weren't, calling her up to 20 times a day and once punched a wall in anger and made a threatening remark - "I could have hurt you" - after seeing her hug another guy, Hansen wrote administrators in a Sept. 6 e-mail recapping the allegations.

In court papers, McCormick's lawyer, J. Scott Kilpatrick, calls the accusations "exaggerations and half-truths" without responding to specific allegations. McCormick, himself, refused to be interviewed for this story.

The student spoke with Hansen later in the morning of Sept. 6, refusing to name her alleged stalker for fear of getting him into trouble. She also referenced her father, though it's unclear why.

"She said that her father was an alum and a big supporter of Brown, and that she wanted to love Brown, too, and did not want to have anything bad happen to this other student," Hansen wrote in the e-mail.

Conversations between Hansen, the accuser and the resident adviser continued throughout the day.

The student spoke that afternoon with a campus victim rights' advocate, and later that evening, asked to temporarily drop the matter so she could study and attend a friend's birthday party.

That night, she spoke to her father, who urged her to identify her alleged stalker - which she did. At 10 p.m., the father also called the home of Brown administrator Russell Carey, according to an e-mail from Carey.

The following day, McCormick was formally barred from contacting her. She was directed to avoid him, as well.

Soon new problems arose.

A Sept. 13 e-mail to administrators from the student's resident adviser accuses McCormick of having violated the no-contact order by visiting the woman's room and trying to speak with her.

But for the first time, the e-mail - sent to various administrators - also describes an encounter the woman said had occurred on Sept. 6. the day after she first complained to her RA.

On that evening, she said, William McCormick entered her room as her friends were at dinner. As she tried to study, she said, he forced her onto the bed, pushed her up against a wall, tore through her boxer shorts and raped her.

She complained of bruising and sore ribs.