See what I did there?......I digress
The alleged victim (his girlfriend) is hitting back. This is some pretty unbelievable stuff, if true...
http://deadspin.com/girlfriend-of-former-usc-kicker-says-school-railroaded-1797468166
Her public statement:
I am Zoe Katz and I am a 22 year old student athlete at USC (captain of the women’s tennis team), nationally ranked singles player and have been dating Matt Boermeester for well over a year. Matt, the Trojan kicker who helped win the Rose Bowl, has been falsely accused of conduct involving me.
The fact that I have to publicly state this truth is because of how both Matt and I have been treated by USC’s Title IX office.
I am speaking up now because this horrible and unjust six-month process has finally concluded. I will tell you that I am afraid of USC’s Title IX office. I hope that my comments will not cause USC’s Title IX office to further retaliate against me in any way.
I want to be very clear that I have never been abused, assaulted or otherwise mistreated by Matt. He is an incredible person, and I am and have been 100% behind him. Nothing happened that warranted an investigation, much less the unfair, biased and drawn out process that we have been forced to endure quietly.
Terrible and untrue things have been said about Matt by people who don’t even know him, including apparently the third party who contacted Title IX, and these bizarre assertions have been treated as fact in this investigation. Words, including mine, have been incompetently or intentionally misrepresented, misquoted and taken out of context, which should not be that surprising since no statements were recorded or verified.
The first time I was mandated to come in and be interviewed by the Title IX office, I was told that I must be afraid of Matt, which I definitely was not and am not. When I told the truth about Matt, in repeated interrogations, I was stereotyped and was told I must be a “battered” woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled. I understand that domestic violence is a terrible problem, but in no way does that apply to Matt and me.
On one occasion I was told to come in to view a videotape - which I was happy to do - and then nothing was shown to me. It ended up being just another interrogation. I feel I was misled, harassed, threatened and discriminated against by the Title IX office to such an extent that I had to retain my own attorney during the process to protect myself and to try to get them to listen to me. The Title IX office’s response was dismissive and demeaning, “We are sorry you feel that way.”
Looking back, Matt never had a chance. Before he was even interviewed by the Title IX investigator, he was suspended from the University. He was not permitted to go to class or be on campus (he had two classes left to graduate and he was not allowed to take them elsewhere), he was not permitted to rehabilitate his knee with our trainers (he had surgery by USC doctors two weeks before), he was publicly removed from the football team and all of its activities, he was forbidden to contact me because of an unfounded concern about my safety (it was a one-way no contact order, and every one of my repeated attempts and those of my own attorney to have it lifted it were denied), and he was told he could not talk about the matter or he would potentially face another alleged violation of the policy.
The alleged victim (his girlfriend) is hitting back. This is some pretty unbelievable stuff, if true...
http://deadspin.com/girlfriend-of-former-usc-kicker-says-school-railroaded-1797468166
Her public statement:
I am Zoe Katz and I am a 22 year old student athlete at USC (captain of the women’s tennis team), nationally ranked singles player and have been dating Matt Boermeester for well over a year. Matt, the Trojan kicker who helped win the Rose Bowl, has been falsely accused of conduct involving me.
The fact that I have to publicly state this truth is because of how both Matt and I have been treated by USC’s Title IX office.
I am speaking up now because this horrible and unjust six-month process has finally concluded. I will tell you that I am afraid of USC’s Title IX office. I hope that my comments will not cause USC’s Title IX office to further retaliate against me in any way.
I want to be very clear that I have never been abused, assaulted or otherwise mistreated by Matt. He is an incredible person, and I am and have been 100% behind him. Nothing happened that warranted an investigation, much less the unfair, biased and drawn out process that we have been forced to endure quietly.
Terrible and untrue things have been said about Matt by people who don’t even know him, including apparently the third party who contacted Title IX, and these bizarre assertions have been treated as fact in this investigation. Words, including mine, have been incompetently or intentionally misrepresented, misquoted and taken out of context, which should not be that surprising since no statements were recorded or verified.
The first time I was mandated to come in and be interviewed by the Title IX office, I was told that I must be afraid of Matt, which I definitely was not and am not. When I told the truth about Matt, in repeated interrogations, I was stereotyped and was told I must be a “battered” woman, and that made me feel demeaned and absurdly profiled. I understand that domestic violence is a terrible problem, but in no way does that apply to Matt and me.
On one occasion I was told to come in to view a videotape - which I was happy to do - and then nothing was shown to me. It ended up being just another interrogation. I feel I was misled, harassed, threatened and discriminated against by the Title IX office to such an extent that I had to retain my own attorney during the process to protect myself and to try to get them to listen to me. The Title IX office’s response was dismissive and demeaning, “We are sorry you feel that way.”
Looking back, Matt never had a chance. Before he was even interviewed by the Title IX investigator, he was suspended from the University. He was not permitted to go to class or be on campus (he had two classes left to graduate and he was not allowed to take them elsewhere), he was not permitted to rehabilitate his knee with our trainers (he had surgery by USC doctors two weeks before), he was publicly removed from the football team and all of its activities, he was forbidden to contact me because of an unfounded concern about my safety (it was a one-way no contact order, and every one of my repeated attempts and those of my own attorney to have it lifted it were denied), and he was told he could not talk about the matter or he would potentially face another alleged violation of the policy.
