A former Vanderbilt football equipment manager is accusing former Commodores linebacker Charles Wright of raping her, according to posts on Twitter.
Regan Siems on Saturday detailed the allegations against Wright, who she said was found responsible for a Title IX violation by the school in October 2018 and expelled following an appeal in February 2019. She said the rape occurred in February 2018, when she was a freshman equipment manager for Vanderbilt and Wright, an All-SEC linebacker, was a fifth-year senior.
"I cried myself to sleep night after night and didn't even consider it rape until a close friend told me that it was, especially since I vocally said "no," and "stop" repeatedly. I reported to Title IX and was put through an arduous process that lasted 10 months ..." Siems wrote as part of a series of tweets.
University police and Nashville police both investigated the claims and filed no charges against Wright, sources told ESPN.
Siems is among several current or former Vanderbilt students who this weekend went public with accusations of sexual assault against current or former Vanderbilt football players. A former Vanderbilt track athlete accused former Commodores running back Khari Blasingame, now with the Tennessee Titans, of raping her in 2016. Two female students accused a current Vanderbilt player of sexual assault on Twitter.
Only Siems' allegation against Wright was reported to Vanderbilt's Title IX office, and the university was unaware of the other allegations until this weekend, sources told ESPN.
Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee acknowledged the accusations in a series of tweets Sunday afternoon.
"To any individual who has endured the trauma of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, you have my full support and my assurance that Vanderbilt Athletics does not condone or tolerate such behavior," Storey Lee tweeted. "To be clear, we take any and all allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct with the utmost seriousness. As is the case for any Vanderbilt student, these allegations are handled by our Title IX and student accountability offices and we fully respect their process and the outcomes of their reviews and decisions."
Blasingame's agent, Nate Litwin, released a statement denying the allegation against his client, who he said was in a consensual relationship with the woman, Erin Hardnett.
Hardnett said that she met Blasingame at a party in January 2016 and that he raped her while she was drunk. She afterward went to the emergency room because of vaginal bleeding. Hardnett detailed the incident both on Twitter and in a longer post for The Vanderbilt Journal.
"I never reported because I didn't t at the time realized my experience was rape," she tweeted early Saturday. "I also hated myself for going t back to him and allowing him further access to me until I realized that what I experienced and was experiencing was abusive."
Two women accused the current Vanderbilt player of sexually assaulting them on campus.
"Thank you to all of the survivors who were brave enough to speak their truth," one of the women tweeted. "It has finally given me the courage to do the same."