Nichole D’Antonio met him while at a party.

The transfer student from Arizona State University did not know anyone prior to coming to Eastern in Fall 2003 and thought going to a house party with her roommate and a couple of her neighbors from Lincoln Hall would help ease her transition.

It was her second night on campus.

“My roommate and I were drunk,” D’Antonio said. “He said he would show us how to get back to the dorms because we didn’t know how to get back to the dorms because we didn’t know where we were – I never had been on the campus.”

The guy who helped her and her roommate back to Lincoln Hall also played football for Eastern.

Once the three made it back to D’Antonio’s floor, the football player – which D’Antonio wanted him to remain nameless – said he could not go back to his dorm room because he feared he would get in trouble with the coaches because he was also drinking alcohol, D’Antonio said.

They decided to let him stay in their room for the night.

D’Antonio said she and her roommate proceeded to go to sleep once entering the room.

She does not remember when she went to sleep, but remembers waking up.

“I woke up during it,” D’Antonio said.

It was three in the morning when D’Antonio awoke to being assaulted by the football player.

“I fought. I cried. I scratched him,” D’Antonio said.

She added the football player did not back off when she resisted.

“He finished, and he didn’t say one word,” D’Antonio said. “He just got dressed and left.”

D’Antonio said she showered and proceeded to drive to Shelbyville, where a former teacher of hers lived. The two went to the hospital, where she had an exam performed but not a rape kit.

“I wanted to get out of there,” D’Antonio said. “I wished I had (done a rape kit), but I was just in another planet.”

According to Eastern’s 2006 Annual Security Report, there were four forcible sex offenses in 2004, three in 2005 and one in 2006.

Conversely, there was one non-forcible sex offense in 2004 and none in 2005 and 2006.

Sara Stratton was also new to the campus in 2003. D’Antonio and Stratton were randomly paired as roommates.

She graduated from Eastern in 2005.

She said the football player did not force his way into their room. She could not remember why he could not go to his own room.

Stratton said she started hearing noises about an hour or so after the three of them went to sleep.

“I heard her say ‘stop,’ but it didn’t occur to me at the time what was going on,” Stratton said. “It was the first time I met her as well and, for all I know, they could have just been screwing around.”

She said she looked over to them and saw them having sex, but clearly heard D’Antonio say “stop.”

She did not act on the situation because she did not know what exactly was happening, she said.

“Believe me, I feel very guilty,” Stratton said.

Stratton said neither D’Antonio nor the football player were in the room the next morning. She said D’Antonio told her about what happened later the following day.

Stratton filed a report with the University Police Department the same day.

D’Antonio said she did not want UPD to pursue the matter because she was fearful of the football player.

She said a few of his friends also lived on her floor.

“I remember running to the bathroom because I knew he had friends in my dorm,” D’Antonio said. “I was terrified I would run into him.”

“Their excuse was ‘we dropped the ball'”

D’Antonio decided to take action against the player in the beginning of November 2003 through Judicial Affairs.

The hearing took place on Nov. 13. The judicial board unanimously decided the football player assaulted D’Antonio.

The ruling was 6-0; however, three of the six board members said the assault was non-violent or non-aggravated.

The board also expelled the player from the university immediately and ruled he could not practice or play football for Eastern, D’Antonio said.

The decision was made on Nov. 13.

D’Antonio saw him at the Student Recreation Center on Dec. 1.

D’Antonio notified one of her professors he was at the recreation center.

The professor helped D’Antonio throughout the fall 2003 semester and attended the Nov. 13 judicial hearing.

The professor, who requested to be anonymous, said they also saw him at the recreation center on Dec. 1.

D’Antonio and the professor then went to Judicial Affairs to figure out why he was allowed to stay on campus on Dec. 3. They were directed to see Shirley Stewart, the vice president for student affairs at the time.

The two met with Stewart on Dec. 4.

At the meeting, Stewart notified them that the player would be able to finish out the semester, D’Antonio said.

She added she did not know if the player filed an official appeal of the Nov. 13 judicial hearing decision or not.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said a person has three business days to appeal a decision of a judical hearing after the person receives a letter detailing the final decision.

He added a person could request more time to file an appeal.

Nadler said the vice president for student affairs has no time constraints when deciding on an appealed decision.

D’Antonio said the player met with Stewart on Dec. 1. He told Stewart he did not do it, and Stewart made her decision from what the player told her, she said.

Stewart did not listen to the tape of the Nov. 13 hearing or consult D’Antonio to gather her side of the story, D’Antonio added.

The professor confirmed what D’Antonio said about Stewart.

Stewart retired in December 2004.

Multiple calls to Stewart for comment were not returned.

D’Antonio and the professor met with Keith Kohanzo, the director of Judicial Affairs at the time, on Dec. 5 to try and figure out why the player was allowed to stay on campus after the decision was announced on Nov. 13.

D’Antonio said Kohanzo could not give the pair answers on what happened.

“Their excuse was ‘we dropped the ball,'” D’Antonio said.

She added Kohanzo did not offer further explanation.

“It was a lack of communication,” the professor said.

The professor added Kohanzo never informed the football team that the player could not be allowed to practice or play for the team.

According to the Eastern football 2004 media guide, the player played in the final two games of the 2003 regular season. He played in the Nov. 15 game versus Jacksonville State and the Nov. 22 game against Samford.

Both games took place after Nov. 13, the day of the hearing. It could not be confirmed when the player was informed of the decision of the judicial hearing, and if he filed an official appeal or not.

Eastern’s defensive coordinator, Roc Bellantoni, attended the Nov. 13 hearing, D’Antonio and the professor said.

Bellantoni could not comment on the situation. It could not be confirmed if Bellantoni was informed of the decision.

Kohanzo cannot comment about D’Antonio’s situation due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“As much as I might wish to, I cannot provide full disclosure of information that would not only aid . in balanced reporting, but would likely dispel erroneous assumptions might have arisen from reading a letter of complaint,” Kohanzo said about D’Antonio’s situation.

Kohanzo works part time for Judicial Affairs.

D’Antonio said the player left Eastern at the end of the Fall 2003 semester. She did not know if he left on his own accord, or if the university forced him leave.

D’Antonio said her eating disorder slowly intensified as the Fall 2003 semester progressed. She was symptom free of her eating disorder for two years prior to transferring to Eastern.

“I dropped a few of my classes and took incompletes in the others,” she said. “I locked myself in my room after I found out he was still on campus.”