On April 17th Grace Mann, an outspoken lesbian feminist at Mary Williams University in Virginia, was killed in her own home. The man accused of her murder is a fellow student and one of her housemates.
The student allegedly killed by her roommate had an altercation with him before her death and received numerous calls and text messages from him, according to a search warrant. He is charged with the murder and abduction. The Medical Examiner's office ruled her death asphyxia due to strangulation.
Grace Rebecca Mann, 20, of McLean, was also threatened with rape by an anonymous poster on the social networking app Yik Yak and she feared for her safety in the month before her slaying, according to a friend who saw the message.
The revelations came Thursday as Mann’s feminist group at Mary Washington announced it was filing a federal complaint accusing the school of doing little to combat a flood of violent and sexual threats against members on Yik Yak this year. School officials denied the charges.
Members said they felt afraid on campus, resorted to carrying rape whistles, walked in groups and one sought counseling. The messages came after Feminists United members came out in opposition to bringing Greek life to campus and commented on a lewd chant at a party by members of the rugby team.
One poster wrote “Gonna tie these feminists to the radiator” and rape them. Another promised to kill “a [expletive] . . . or two” and a third called for euthanizing members, according to the complaint. There were more than 700 messages.
Members said the messages were especially chilling because Yik Yak functions as a virtual community bulletin board, aggregating comments from its anonymous users within a 1.5-mile radius.
“I was terrified,” said Julia Michels, president of Feminists United. “I didn’t know if the person sitting next to me in class was going to rape me.”
Michels said group members met multiple times with top university officials to express their concerns about the messages, including once a little over a week before Mann was slain on April 17. Steven Vander Briel, 30, is accused of killing Mann in the off-campus home they shared with two other students.
Authorities have not revealed a motive, and Feminists United members said they had no evidence connecting Mann’s killing to the Yik Yak threats or her activism on campus. The family said the two did not have a personal relationship and Vander Briel was simply renting a room in the house.
In a statement, university officials said they had been engaging with Feminists United and other students throughout the year to address issues of safety and campus culture. They said they take allegations of gender-based violence very seriously and would cooperate with any investigation that follows the complaint.
“Creating a safe learning and living environment is our first and foremost concern,” said Richard V. Hurley, president of the school.
another statistic in the war on women