Jane Doe Solidarity Rally: Stacy Malone’s Remarks

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Jane Doe Solidarity Rally: Stacy Malone’s Remarks

Photo provided by Mass NOW.

On October 8, 2026, Mass NOW, along with partner organizations, organized a rally in support of Cornell’s Jane Doe and all student-survivors. VRLC’s Executive Director, Stacy Malone, shared the following:

I am Stacy Malone.

This is what a rape survivor looks like.

I am a lawyer and the Executive Director of the Victim Rights Law Center.

I was raped my first semester of college.

I almost dropped out of school and I almost took my own life.

My message to Jane Doe at Cornell, Kendall Francis at LSU, and to every single survivor is:

We believe you. And we stand with you.

Jane Doe’s education and her future are influx because 7 men felt entitled to violate her body and over 50 men stayed silent and just let it happen.

Jane Doe is demanding accountability for the men who assaulted her and the institutions that failed her.

Her civil lawsuit puts institutional responsibility squarely in the spotlight.

We must now demand that every university answer the question:

When a survivor’s safety and an institution’s reputation are on the line, who gets protected?

Jane Doe deserves answers.

She deserves privacy and dignity.

And she deserves to know that we will stand beside her long after her case stops making headlines.

At LSU, the university’s Title IX process found football player Damien Shanklin responsible for raping Kendall Francis, yet he was allowed to return to campus.

Kendall has spoken out about the devastating cost to her education and her to life.

Today, we name Cornell and LSU. But this happens on campuses across this country.

At the Victim Rights Law Center we have represented dozens and dozens of survivors right here at the campuses in this city!

Too often, we see that perpetrators move forward—with their degrees, their careers, their futures- while survivors drop out, transfer, or spend years, sometimes a lifetime, recovering.

Where is the urgency for their futures? Where is the fight for their dreams?

That fight- is right here.

I see a generation challenging the shame survivors have carried for far too long.

A generation saying: This was not my fault. This shame is not mine.

They recognize how race, gender, ability, and wealth shape whose pain is heard- and whose pain is dismissed.

When survivors distrust systems, those systems must reckon with why.

Survivors have watched institutions betray the survivors who came before them.

And still, survivors are speaking.

To friends. To families. To us.

They are finding each other and demanding that institutions answer for their failures.

Our responsibility is to stand with them and turn that courage into change.

We must demand accountability from perpetrators, college campuses, and the Greek system.

No Ivy League reputation. No championship. No tradition is worth more than a survivor’s life and future.

To every survivor: Whether you speak publicly or never share your story, our support is unconditional.

You deserve safety. You deserve justice. You deserve a future that you get to choose.

Now, what can you do?

You are alum- Write to your schools- demand transparency on how they are responding to sexual violence, the resources they are dedicating, and how they are supporting survivors on campus.

You are voters- let’s not vote for rapists and abusers. Okay?

You are friends and family. Listen to survivors. Just believe us when we tell you we’ve been raped.

I’d like to ask you to join me in telling survivors we believe them.

Let’s make sure every survivor in this city can hear us!

When I say “We believe,” you say “Survivors!”

We believe! Survivors lives are worth fighting for.