Vanderbilt Apologizes For Tweet Misinterpreted To Reference Rape Scandal

Vanderbilt University acted swiftly to delete a tweet from the official football team account after it was widely seen as insensitive in light of the program’s history with sexual assault.

The message was an image of a slogan: “We don’t need your permission,” signed by head coach Derek Mason. The tweet generated a flood of negative reaction.

This was an ill-advised choice of slogans, Vanderbilt football.
http://t.co/JDEtNRFnKT
pic.twitter.com/wpZ1jwbhxJ— Matt Bonesteel (@MattBonesteel)
August 6, 2015

“It was not a comment about sexual assault,” spokesman Rod Williamson said. “It goes without saying that sex without permission is always wrong and not accepted here at Vanderbilt.”

Williamson said the slogan is a partial quote taken from a team press conference this week where someone said, “We don’t need your permission to be great.”

We apologize for today’s tweet. It’s not a comment about sexual assault. Sex without permission is always wrong and not accepted. (1/2)— VandyFootball (@VandyFootball)
August 6, 2015

The communications staff has issued an apology and said the message was not as scrutinized as it should have been before being sent out. They’re also laying some of the blame on newcomers who weren’t around in 2013* when four football players were dismissed from school for a dormitory rape. Those cases are still ongoing.

“A lot of the people on the football staff, most of them weren’t here a few years ago during that incident,” Williamson said. “It still is surprising that something that was completely unintended could happen like that. But we can’t be more sorry.”

*The original post had an incorrect date