A college is in meltdown after a student accused more than 30 men of rape on Facebook

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A college is in meltdown after a student accused more than 30 men of rape on Facebook

We spoke to one of the guys on the list

Students at Middlebury College are in turmoil after a senior posted a list of over 30 men accused of rape.

In an explosive post on Facebook, Elizabeth Dunn called out by name male students who she said raped or abused women at the liberal arts school. This information was also handed out in flyers on campus this morning.

The post, which has now been deleted, explained how the #MeToo movement has seen many people share their experiences with sexual assault while the accused remain anonymous.

"So in the spirit of that, here's a short List of Men to Avoid," she said before accusing more than 30 students of rape, sexual assault, physical or emotional abuse and sexual harassment.

We were sent these screenshots by a Middlebury alum who told us that Dunn's status had lit a powder keg on campus and was being widely circulated.

We have chosen to redact the names as we cannot substantiate each claim made in the post above.

Babe contacted every person whose info we could find on that list, and one of them spoke to us on the condition of anonymity. One of the crimes he is accused of is rape, which he refused to comment on.

The male student said he believed there were men on the list who were innocent of the crimes they were accused of.

"There are men on this list who were in romantic relationships that had emotional manipulation on the other side of this exchange," he said. "There are men on this list who were wrongly accused of sexual assault but whose reputations still precede them. There are men on this list who are abusers and rapists and awful people. We’re all on the same list."

While he did say this list amounted to "slander", "cyberbullying" and "vigilante justice," he did not disagree with its intended purpose.

He said:

"If a woman is feeling physically threatened, her education is going to be affected. Her mental health is going to go down the tubes. College is not a space that's friendly to mental health… if somebody is dangerous or are a threat, they either need to be removed or accounted for. That's the bottom line. That comes before any personal opinion I might have."

Dunn ended the post by writing: "Anyways here's to not being complicit in 2018, and feel free to dm me more names to add to this status because I could really give a fuck about protecting the privacy of abusers."

Dunn's post has echoes of the Shitty Media Men list which emerged last month, which accused dozens of male journalists of rape and sexual assault.

In a campus-wide email seen by babe, Middlebury College asked students to report behavior violating their policies.

"We know this information was disturbing to many members of our community," they added.

We have contacted Dunn for comment and will update if we hear back.

@hshukman