A victims speaks out about the sex abuse case at the University of Michigan

A victims speaks out about the sex abuse case at the University of Michigan

Transcript¹

NPR's A Martinez speaks to Chuck Christian², a sexual assault survivor³, about the message he has for other survivors⁴, following the settlement of the University of Michigan's abuse case.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A onetime University of Michigan football player is telling his story of abuse at the hands of a doctor. This is a story that will contain explicit⁵ descriptions and will last about seven minutes. The University of Michigan last month agreed to pay $490 million to more than 1,000 people who say university physician Dr. Robert Anderson sexually assaulted them. One was Chuck Christian, who played football at Michigan from 1977 to 1980. During that time, Dr. Anderson regularly performed invasive, unnecessary procedures on him during physicals. He spoke⁶ with our co-host A Martinez and told him that abuse gave him a lifelong fear of doctors. And that's why he ended up with a late-stage diagnosis⁷ of prostate cancer.

CHUCK CHRISTIAN: I first went to the doctor when I was 45 because I was starting to have problems with my prostate, and I knew something was going on. And when I went in to see the doctor, the first thing he did was - my wife went in with me. But the first thing he did was snap the glove and put it on. And I jumped up out of the seat, and I said, no, no, nobody's ever going to do that to me again. And I said, because I just could not allow another doctor to penetrate⁸ me again. It couldn't happen. It took me until I was 60 years old before I realized that I had been raped⁹. And I definitely think I suppressed it because it was too much for me to process at 18 and 19 and 20 years old. That was just too much.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

If, say, an athlete did not want a rectal examination, would that go to the head coach, Bo Schembechler, who was an absolute legend? Would he be aware of this?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, he was because I spoke with a friend of mine who was a few years older, and he said the exact same thing happened to him. He would not let Anderson give him a rectal exam. So when he came to practice, he had a big note on his locker¹⁰ that said, you can't practice until you see Bo. And then when the player went to see Bo, Bo said, Dr. Anderson said that you didn't let him finish the physical, and he's like, yeah, he was trying to do this to me. He said, quit being a wimp¹¹, and get - go over there, and get it done. And then he went ahead and got it done, and then he was able to practice again.

MARTINEZ: And so, Chuck, hearing that from a man of that stature¹² - 'cause Bo Schembechler, I kid you not - I mean, for anyone that doesn't know, he is an absolute legend in the - in college football and definitely in the state of Michigan. And you're a high school kid that went - in Detroit - right? - at Detroit High School.

CHRISTIAN: Correct, correct.

MARTINEZ: So I'm assuming that for you, Bo Schembechler was almost godlike in...

CHRISTIAN: Yes. Yes, in fact he would tell us that he was more powerful than the mayor of Ann Arbor¹³, and he was the most powerful man in the state.

MARTINEZ: So did anyone, though - or did you ever feel that you needed to tell Bo Schembechler this, that you feel like, if I tell him and I tell him exactly what's going on, that he'll listen to me? Or was there just this culture of fear because of who Bo Schembechler was?

CHRISTIAN: There was a culture of fear because we didn't ever want to say anything to rattle¹⁴ him because if he got rattled¹⁵, then we would pay the price. We would either get benched or never play again. And that's the last thing you want to do when you're at Michigan and you're trying to get on the field and play in front of 100,000 people every week.

MARTINEZ: So settlements like this, financial settlements - is it even one step toward closure, or is it just not enough because Dr. Anderson passed away a few years ago?

CHRISTIAN: Michigan is still not acknowledging that they were responsible for this happening to us. If he had done what he did to us in a public bathroom, he would have been arrested the first day he did it, but instead he was able to operate for 37-plus years, and Michigan protected him and covered up his crimes over and over and over again. And that's just really, really disheartening. And that's exactly what happened - just 37 years of just cover-ups and lies and protecting him because, you know, my good friend Tad Deluca was a wrestler¹⁷, and Tad - he wrote a nine-page letter explaining what Anderson had done to his wrestling friends. And instead of the athletic¹⁸ director and the coach dealing¹⁹ with Anderson, they stripped Tad of his scholarship, and he wasn't able to wrestle¹⁶ anymore.

MARTINEZ: Regrettably, I don't think that - even with all the attention that some of the cases in the last few years have gotten that this is going to stop. What do you think needs to happen to change the power dynamic where an athlete, a young athlete, can feel safe and comfortable reporting what happens to them, to their coaches, to someone in charge?

CHRISTIAN: I think it needs to be somebody that's not a coach because coaches have their own agenda. It needs to be an outside person that has the power to make some changes, but they're not under the head coach. And if we could report to someone outside of the system, then things can change. That's what needs to be done. And everybody needs to be on the same page. We told the students when we were in - you know, in front of the University of Michigan, like, listen, do you see any shame in me when I talk about this? And they're like, no. I said, do you see any shame in John or Tad when we talk about it? They're like, no. And it's like, well, then there should be no shame in you for talking about this. You need to get your voice back. This is not a reflection - what happened is not a reflection on you. It's a reflection on the predator²⁰. So do not blame yourself ever for what happened to you.

MARTINEZ: That is Chuck Christian. He is speaking to us from his home in Boston. Chuck, thank you very much for your story.

CHRISTIAN: Thank you so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF CORRE'S "TRANSIENT (B)")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

8 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

9 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

10 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

11 wimp   

n.无用的人

参考例句：

• The more she called her husband a wimp,the more timid he became.她越叫她先生懦夫，他就越胆小怯懦。
• I hate those who get on their high horses in front of wimps.我最恨那些在弱者面前盛气凌人的人。

12 stature   

n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材

参考例句：

• He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
• The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。

13 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

14 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

15 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

16 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

17 wrestler   

n.摔角选手，扭

参考例句：

• The wrestler tripped up his opponent.那个摔跤运动员把对手绊倒在地。
• The stronger wrestler won the first throw.较壮的那个摔跤手第一跤就赢了。

18 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

19 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

20 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。