ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603250073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE
Christy Brzonkala says Tony Morrison and James Crawford raped her in their dorm room Sept. 22, 1994. She did not bring charges under Virginia Tech's student conduct code until the next semester. In May 1995, Morrison was found guilty of sexual misconduct and suspended for two semesters.
He appealed, and his sentence was upheld. He then hired an attorney and threatened to sue Tech for punishing him under a sexual misconduct code that was in place at the time but had not yet been distributed to students in a new handbook. He was granted a new hearing. This time, a different panel found Morrison guilty only of using abusive language toward Brzonkala, but again recommended a suspension of two semesters.
The university provost reduced the suspension to probation and ordered Morrison to attend a one-hour counseling session.
Morrison has said that anything that happened with Brzonkala that night was consensual.
The first judicial panel found insufficient evidence to take action against Crawford, who said he did not have sex with Brzonkala. Cornell Brown testified as a witness for Crawford, saying they were together that evening.
None of the three football players has been charged with a crime in connection with the incident. State police recently began an investigation of Brzonkala's claim.
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