Last week, just days after Morehouse College took part in a national campaign to raise awareness of rape and sexual assault, President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. called what amounted to a mandatory town hall meeting.
The men gathered inside the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel and a silence fell over them as Wilson started talking about violence against women.
Then he revealed that four of their Morehouse brothers — as students at the school are apt to call themselves — had been accused in two separate incidents of raping two Spelman College students. Their sisters, as tradition holds.
“This is something that you don’t expect at all,” said Ronnie Mosley, a 21-year-old senior from Chicago. “You come here to be educated and this doesn’t match up with the idea of what we are supposed to be doing here.”
Chukwudi Ndudikwa, Malcolm Jamal Frank, Tevin Mgbo and Lucien Kidd were not at that meeting.
Ndudikwa, Frank and Mgbo – all members of the basketball team — were arrested last month for having “non-consenting” sex with a woman who was under the influence of “Molly,” a powerful, powdered form of Ecstasy, Morehouse police said.
Lucien Kidd, a junior who played football as a freshman, was arrested in a separate alleged assault at an off-campus apartment. Each of the four men was released from jail on $10,000 bond, according to jail records. Lawyers for the accused men say their clients are innocent.
“This is not something we tried to sweep under the rug,” said Mosley, the senior adviser to the SGA president. “No one is trying to hide this.”
Morehouse and Spelman, often considered two of America’s best historically black colleges, each have carefully crafted images that their respective administrations and alumni have tried to burnish and protect.
While Morehouse College has issued one press release on the rapes, President Wilson has not been available for any of comment this week. Calls and emails to Grady Brewer, who was named SIAC Coach of the Year after leading the Maroon Tigers to a 20-8 record, were not returned.
Spelman College officials also have declined to comment.
Kiana Hardy, a 21-year-old rising senior at Spelman, said students were informed of the incidents about two weeks ago. Now that the media has found the story, a lot of stuff is being revisited, she said.
“I don’t think we had forgotten about it,” Hardy said. “But now we all want to talk about it.”
Hardy said Spelman has kept the students aware of the attacks and have recommended programs for those who feel threatened or need to talk. She said the overall mood on campus has been mixed.
“Some girls are like they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law for what they did, and others are saying why should we automatically believe the woman?” Hardy said. “So it is causing a division. Even among friends.”
About two weeks ago, Ulester Douglas, the interim director of Men Stopping Violence, got a call from Wilson’s office. April was Sexual Awareness Month and Wilson wanted the group to come speak on campus.
They set up shop on April 16, although they had not been made aware of the rape allegations.
“It was not in the conversation at all,” Douglas said. “We just heard about it [Wednesday].”
Douglas said Wilson attended the event and was very engaged.
“What is happening on college campuses mirrors what is happening in society,” Douglas said. “It feels different, because it is in a defined space. But we have not been willing to acknowledge how men are socialized to have access to women’s bodies. That is a dominate narrative. Until we examine that, we are not going to really come to grips with this problem.”
On April 25, Men Stopping Violence repeated their presentation at Spelman College as part of the school’s week-long campaign to end violence against women. On April 24, Spelman also held a Denim Day, which was launched in 1999 to protest an Italian High Court ruling that overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing “tight” jeans.
Affidavits obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution paint a picture of wild partying that spiraled out of control in a haze of alcohol and drugs on April 8, the night the three basketball players are accused of raping a woman.
Witnesses described her as twice going into a bathroom with one of the suspects, another time being in a locked room with another suspect, and a third time a witness described walking in on her having sex with someone, according to police. All the while, she appeared unfazed and, according to the documents, rebuffed attempts by friends to get her away.
One witness told police the woman drank alcohol that night and consumed a powdery white substance thought to be “Molly.”
Students on both campuses are content to let the court decide the fate of the four students.
“I don’t see it as doing too much to what Morehouse is. It shows that we are still human,” Mosley said. “Remember, these are still allegations, so we are waiting for the process to move forward. If our brothers are found guilty, they will suffer the consequences. If not, it will be a great life lesson. Ultimately, it will hurt them more than it will hurt Morehouse.”
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