On February 24, 2020, I received notifications from Twitter and Snapchat saying my accounts

had been logged into on a new device. That same day I was tagged on Twitter in a racially
insensitive video and Snapchat messages sent in my name. I immediately notified the University
of North Dakota Athletic Department of these posts and of my hacked accounts. There were
fake Twitter accounts tweeting a video of a teammate and I that was edited and cropped, with
a voice over on top of the original, to target me. The messages sent in my name and put online
were on an AT&T device, I do not have AT&T and never have.

Other student-athletes were called in for questioning regarding this situation and the content
was deleted from the accounts it was posted on. After meeting with the Athletic Department,
University Police Department, and the Assistant Dean of Students, I was found to be in no
violation of the UND Code of Life or Athletic Code. UND handled this internally and I was
assured it was handled. I asked UND if we could release a statement at that time to clear our
names and that request was denied because “only a few hundred people knew” and they didn’t
want more people to know.

Earlier this winter, I was nominated by my teammates to be a team captain. After a thorough
interview process, I was selected to be a team captain for the fall season. I was also accepted
into UND’s nursing school, received a nursing scholarship, and was excited for what the fall had
in store.

In May of 2020, the teammate of mine who was also targeted was featured in a season ticket
renewal advertisement. A student-athlete called out UND for using her in a promo. The Athletic
Department apologized to us privately because it caused the material to resurface on Twitter.
Their negligence was not that they used my teammate in the advertisement, but their failure to
make a statement to the public when this first occurred in March to clear our names.

The Athletic Department acknowledged that they were at fault for it resurfacing. I was told to
“let it blow over,” that I “didn’t need to worry” because I had not broken any Code of Conduct.
UND’s plan was for me to continue my degree and compete on the volleyball team this fall.

UND releasing vague statements in response to this second occurrence, without consulting me,
led to lies and misrepresentations of myself, my character, and my values in the media. At no
time was I contacted by the university or the media for my statement.

Due to the disappointing handling of this situation and UND’s lack of support, as well as the
hate, harassment, and defamation of my character online, I decided to resign from the UND
volleyball team. I was not dismissed from the volleyball program or the university. Since I do
not feel safe at UND or in Grand Forks, due to the ongoing harassment, I also declined my
acceptance to the nursing program, and will not return to UND.

Had a public statement been made in March, as it normally is with similar situations, this could
have been avoided. I am extremely disappointed at the way the University of North Dakota
handled this situation and their lack of ownership in managing it properly in March.