Pay careful attention to those words. Dunnings did not merely say there was insufficient evidence to go forward. “No crime had been committed” is a statement of conspicuous certainty — especially given the circumstances.

Let’s review: Hardly a week ago, the Michigan Messenger broke a story connecting two MSU basketball players to an alleged on-campus sexual assault that reportedly occured between Aug. 29 and Aug. 30.

According to police reports, the victim had physical evidence, had not blacked out and alleged she explicitly told the suspects to stop. The MSU Police Department recommended the men be charged. One of the alleged suspects indicated that the accuser said “she didn’t want it.” Shari Murgittroyd, director of MSU’s Sexual Assault Program, expressed shock at the decision not to press charges.

The Michigan Messenger reported that Dunnings said it was the “mutual decision” of his office and the alleged victim — a claim she denied in the Messenger report. Finally, in saying “no crime has been committed,” the prosecutor’s office has implied the alleged victim is lying.

In light of this, the decision not to prosecute is dubious to say the least. It seems to be inexcusable, but perhaps Dunnings knows something we don’t, such as exactly how much heat he would take if he brought charges.

None of this is to say we know whether this was a sexual assault. The problem is not that there has been a trial and acquittal, but that there have been no charges at all. If this case isn’t strong enough to go before a court, what is? If in fact there’s more to the story, why didn’t we hear about it in Dunnings’ press release?

Not satisfied with effectively calling the alleged victim a liar, he inexplicably denies that one of the suspects agreed with her account.

Listening to Dunnings, we might be forgiven for mistakenly thinking the burden of proof lies with the defense. For the county prosecutor, he sure is trying hard to convince us of these unnamed suspects’ innocence.

This incident has brought out the usual crowd of victim-blamers who are quick to jump in with all kinds of woman-hating garbage. Regardless of the story, they regularly suggest victims are lying out of regret or that a victim must fight back for it to be a sexual assault.

These popular lies serve to validate sexual assault. When an Australian judge ruled that a woman could not have been raped because she was wearing skinny jeans, which are “difficult to get off without collaboration,” we see the “rape culture” and all its conceit in action. Of course, I have yet to mention its favorite line: “She shouldn’t have put herself in that situation.”

What about the two Spartan ballers allegedly connected to the incident? Should they have put themselves “in that situation?” Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger put himself “in that situation” twice (with no charges), and found himself suspended by the NFL.

Perpetrators commit crimes, not victims. Once again, we don’t know a crime has been committed in this case — but what we do know are the details of a “situation” that cries out for justice, because, in the words of the alleged victim, “right now there’s none.”

I’m not holding my breath.

If you’d rather take action than talk about it, look into MSU’s Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention program, or SACI. The volunteers of SACI run a crisis hotline, advocate for survivors in the legal system, put on skits and work tirelessly to educate the community about rape.
E-mail SACI at saci@msu.edu or check them out on Facebook to get involved.

Joel Reinstein is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at reinste5@msu.edu.