“She had vomit on her face that wasn’t hers … a condom was thrown on the side of the bed. She had one shoe on; jeans wrapped around one ankle. She wasn’t moving, and she doesn’t remember anything,” said April Grolle Tuesday.

Three witnesses to the De Anza College baseball rape case were given awards for heroism and strength of action last Tuesday at an event aimed to take action against sexual violence titled “Bearing Witness.”

De Anza College President Brian Murphy spoke to roughly 100 audience members at the event, referring to the party last year as “the ugly incident of last March” and a”sad and sorry accident.”

The women showed honor and responsibility while the others in the room didn’t, he said. He called them “genuine and honest-to-god people.”

De Anza student April Grolle, and former students Lauren Chief Elk and Lauren Bryeans, were introduced one at a time at the event hosted by the department of women’s studies, the Institute of Community and Civic Engagement and Students for Justice, and each given a Courage Award for taking action when they thought a rape occurred at a party thrown by members of the De Anza baseball team in March 2007.

The women testified that they saw a 17-year-old girl involved in a sexual act with two men and immediately pulled her out of the room and away from the party.

De Anza College Director of Marketing and Communications Marisa Spatafore said in regard to Murphy’s statements about the incident, “Both the district attorney and the state attorney general said it is likely without question, that something wrong happened that night, and [we] addressed what we could to the best of our ability.”

So far, there has been no official court ruling that the girl in question was raped.

After Santa Clara District Attorney Dolores Carr said she could not press charges in the case due to insufficient evidence in May 2007, she referred the case to California Attorney General Jerry Brown for review. On May 3, 2008, almost one year later, Brown’s office announced, after more than 1,000 hours of investigation, that it would not press charges against the baseball players who attended the party due to lack of evidence.

“[Nobody] has prosecuted for it. Therefore the college understands that the legal process has taken its course,” Spatafore said. She did not say whether the college’s official stance is that a rape definitely happened on the night of the party.

“20/20” was on site to cover the award ceremony and interview the women afterward. The YWCA and Community Solutions, both women’s advocacy groups, also had representatives at the event.

After the witnesses received their awards, they thanked everyone for coming and noted that the true heroes in sexual violence are the victims.

The event was not only intended to applaud those who bear witness to crimes and take action, but to address the broader issue of sexual violence in society.

“There was so much private discussion on the matter,” said Rowena Tomaneng, of the Institute of Community and Civic Engagement.

At the event, a panel discussed several reasons for why sexual violence occurs so often.

Patrick Donovan, a representative of the YWCA who was present, referred to a statistic that somewhere in the world, one person is sexually assaulted every two seconds.

“We all want to feel safe, so we look the other way and pretend that it isn’t happening,” said Donovan.

After the party on March 3, De Anza suspended the eight players in attendance from playing sports, and soon afterward incorporated a mandatory curriculum for the athletic department that addresses key topics that were relevant that night, including proper behavior both on and off the field, training on how alcohol and drugs can cloud a situation, and avoiding sexual violence.

“[De Anza] is very aware of the need for all students, not just athletes, to be made aware of ending sexual violence,” said Spatafore.

The witnesses say the most important thing for students to keep in mind is to be responsible when it comes to parties with alcohol. “Drink if you want, but be careful with it,” said Grolle.

“Have a plan. We had a plan [the night of the incident]. We had a designated driver, and we ended up not drinking that much,” Byreans added.

The victim, they said, had a friend who was going to drive her, but who left her at the party.

“If she would have had a better plan, this situation would never have happened,” she said.

The alleged victim’s blood alcohol level was .27 percent, the women said. A .30 percent alcohol level is often fatal.

Ehssan Barkeshli is the executive news editor for La Voz. Contact him at [email protected] Stacy Lane contributed to this report.

A note from President Murphy: He intended to refer to the alleged rape as an incident and not an accident.