<< Front page Commentary March 12, 2004

Tomasevic’s “unusual” past is not a tale of heroism

To the Editors:

Last week’s article titled “Tomasevic takes unusual path” singing Bosko Tomasevic’s praises failed to mention that one of the “many hurdles” Tomasevic has overcome on his “unusual path” is accusation of gang rape (Sept. 21, 2001, The Oberlin Review).

It is my personal opinion that he and his accomplice were able to “overcome” this accusation because of sexism and rape culture that is endemic to U.S. mainstream culture and not because of any innocence on his part.

In the fall of 2001 at least four sexual assaults were committed on Oberlin’s campus. The administration of this college, particularly Nancy Dye, Peter Goldsmith and Camille Hamlin Allen, did not hold a single person accountable for any of these acts of violence.

Instead, notices were sent to students about the dangers of drinking and a presidential “taskforce” was established. In the years since, the taskforce has been responsible for the large educational posters about consent, and for semesterly workshops addressing issues of consent, violence in LGBTQ communities and supporting survivors (among other things).

What the administration, and much of the student body, fails to realize is that education about consent and violence can only go so far when violent members of our communities are not held responsible for their actions and in fact are allowed to hold a place of high esteem within the community. What must the survivor and the survivor’s friends think when they open the Review and see Tomasevic’s smiling face in his “home away from home?”

I am glad for the contributions Tomasevic has made to the basketball team, and it is clear from the article that he is a very talented individual. Nonetheless, I think it is shameful that he has appeared so many times in the Review to be celebrated and praised, and that past allegations toward him, which might put a slightly different spin on his history, are ignored and erased. I am also ashamed that I did not speak publicly about this earlier, for I too am complicit in this ongoing violence of selective amnesia. I write now, knowing that I am not alone, to say: He is not my hero. He is not my hero.

Jesse Carr
College senior


 
 
   

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