Boston College Sexual Assault Confession Deemed ‘Hoax’

Photo by Connor Sumner

Boston College officials are conducting an investigation into a post that detailed a series of sexual assaults on the school’s campus that was anonymously submitted to a Facebook page reserved for student confessions.

On Wednesday, Paul Chebator, dean of students at Boston College, said a student came forward and admitted that the post, which discussed three separate non-consensual sexual acts, was a “hoax,” however, officials are continuing to look into the circumstances surrounding the incident. “Boston College officials were alerted to this posting late [Tuesday] afternoon. Student Affairs and BC Police conferred and commenced an investigation. Yesterday evening a student came forward on his own to BCPD and admitted that the entire post was a hoax,” Chebator said in a statement Wednesday. “The student appeared quite remorseful; nevertheless, this matter will continue to be investigated and the student will be referred to the Student Conduct System for resolution of this matter.”

“Boston College Confessions” is not affiliated with the school, but it’s essentially a Facebook page where students submit their confessions via Google doc, and the Facebook page administrators post them to the page. BC students use the page to recap things that have happened to them on campus, without attaching their name to it. A lot of the “confessions” involve experiences at parties or sexual encounters with other students.

The lengthy story sent to BC Confessions, which set off a firestorm of angry responses in the comments section on the page, called post “No. 7122,” revealed in-depth details about three separate sexual assaults that allegedly occurred on the school’s property.

From the post:

When I tried to lay her down, she pulled me closer, and I mistook her motion as an attempt to kiss me, so I kissed her. At first she resisted, but between her fatigue and disarray, she gave in to it. We had sex that night…when I finished, I came to the disturbing realization that she had passed out at some point during the experience. Did I just do what I think I did? The thought horrified me…When she woke up the next morning, she asked me who I was and why she was in my room. She had no recollection of the prior night. I was thankful, because this meant that I didn’t have to apologize…For the next couple of weeks, all I could think about was what I did, and more importantly, how I got away with it. I see this girl all over campus, and she always says hi. She will never know what I did to her. At first this troubled me, but eventually, I became obsessed and almost proud of it.

Later, the anonymous writer detailed two more similar incidents with inebriated students, but near the end of the post, he claimed he felt remorseful and ashamed, and asked others using the confession site for help. “On the one hand, I know that I need to get help, but on the other hand, I can’t help but be driven to do it again. I have these self-consuming thoughts that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to control. What should I do?,” he wrote.

Although the person behind post No. 7122 later came forward and claimed it was all a joke after administrators of the Facebook page sent the confession to school officials, some BC students saw it as a good opportunity to talk about the seriousness of sexual assault on campus, and offer resources to people who may be impacted by such incidents.

“The reality is that 1 in 4 women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape. We as students have the ability to stop these crimes from ever being attempted, in many cases, if we all are educated on the realities of sexual assault and ways to prevent it,” the students wrote on a Facebook event page called “A Response to Boston College Confession #7122.”

The students said an event is in the process of being planned so students can have a “… safe space to learn about resources, voice their concerns, and engage in a discussion on how to address rape culture.”

The date, time, and location has yet to be determined. “We know the statistics about sexual assault. That reality has been brought to the forefront of our attention through a Facebook post. This should be a greater concern for all of us. Turn your discontent into positive action,” the student organizers wrote.

More than 300 people have already committed to attending the event once it’s organized.