I graduated from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1999. After graduation, diploma in hand, I worked a job I didn’t care for and attended a graduate program on the east coast that I disliked. After doing some soul-searching, in 2002, I returned to CU to pursue my PhD in Sociology.
In that one-year space of time when I was absent from campus, a tragedy occurred that sent shockwaves through the community, put CU in the media headlines, and placed CU firmly in the history books as one of the first schools to be accused of failing to provide students with their Title IX rights as it applied to sexual assault. On December 7, 2001, undergraduates Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore were sexually assaulted by CU football players and high school recruits at a party. In the days, months, and years that followed those assaults, new damning evidence came out that the university had knowledge of sexual misconduct by players and also engaged in questionable recruiting tactics. As a student at the time, I remember the consistent stream of news stories about the scandal. But what I remember most was the administration’s ongoing denials and failure to support the victims. From the football coach to the athletic director to our campus president at the time, the priorities seemed clear: protect the team at all costs.
Erika Krouse discusses this case, and her involvement in it, in her new memoir, Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation (2022). Simpson was suing the university under Title IX and one of her attorneys hired Krouse to be a Private Investigator in the case, despite Krouse’s lack of training or experience. In the absence of training, Krouse had a face that people opened up to. She dedicated years to contacting anyone who may have knowledge of the assault, and any other pertinent information about sexual assault and the CU athletic department.
Krouse weaves her experience as a PI in this high-profile case with her own painful narrative as a survivor of ongoing child sexual assault by a family member. Her experiences as a child fuel her compassion for the victims and her drive for seeking justice in the CU case. Her ability to get people to talk to her was integral. People shared details with Krouse that helped to build an argument that CU was deliberately indifferent to sexual harassment. Krouse’s memoir outlines the ups and downs of the investigation and the court case(s) and how the work impacted her personally.
As a student who wanted justice for the victims and who wanted the campus to be safe for all students, the years between the assaults in 2001 to when the University settled in 2007, were often a frustrating time to be on campus. Thankfully, significant changes came about as a result of the scandal, the school lost millions of dollars, many lost their jobs, and we now have a dedicated Title IX office. A lot of that success, I believe, is because of the hard work that Krouse did behind the scenes.
I met Krouse years ago after reading a short piece she wrote about her experience on this case. After hearing her story and after considering what the victims were put through, I am dedicated to making sure people remember this part of CU’s history. She has guest spoken to my classes and contributed to my own book on the topic of campus sexual assault. I will be assigning her new memoir in my upcoming classes on gender violence and I recommend it as important reading for all, especially members of the CU community. As the dictum states, “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” It is important to take a critical look at our history to understand and appreciate how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go.