In a statement published to her website Friday morning, Tamara Kay, the sociology and global affairs professor who is suing the Irish Rover for defamation, said the signs on her office door were about sexual assault.
“The note on my door referenced sexual assault, and the inadequate resources and support for student survivors at Notre Dame,” Kay wrote in the statement.
Notre Dame administrators have known directly from Kay for almost a year that women students were being assaulted with illegal rape drugs, allegedly by male students, according to the statement.
Kay, who is a mandatory reporter as a member of the Notre Dame faculty, said she reported these sexual assaults to university officials and extensively documented her communications.
“There has seemingly been no institutional response — no investigation, no attempt to get more information, no warnings to faculty and students, no public education campaign on campus,” she wrote.
W. Joseph DeReuil, as editor-in-chief of the Irish Rover, published a story on Oct. 12, 2022 with the headline: "Keough School Professor Offers Abortion Access to Students."
The letter "J" on office doors "denotes Notre Dame professors who are willing to help students access abortion," DeReuil wrote.
DeReuil's reporting on the signage on Kay's office door in his Oct. 12 article and another Irish Rover article from March are at the heart of the defamation lawsuit Kay filed against the publication in May.
A photo from DeReuil's Oct. 12 article included as part of Exhibit H in The Irish Rover's motion to dismiss Kay's case shows multiple signs on Kay's office.
One sign identified Kay's office as a “SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL healthcare issues and access — confidentially and with care [and] compassion.” The note also included the capital letter "J" with a circle around it and Kay’s personal email address, which mentioned reproductive health.
Another sign on Kay's door read, “I still believe Anita Hill.”
The door also featured a rainbow-colored “ALLY” sticker in the bottom right corner and a poster saying, "Families belong together and free," in the bottom left.
In a July 18 interview with LOOPcast, a show created by CatholicVote, DeReuil said Kay "put a sign on her door advertising ways to access abortion pills and abortifacients."
Kay’s social media activity and the signs on her door were brought to DeReuil’s attention by one of his professors, he said.
The Irish Rover filed a motion to dismiss the case under Indiana’s anti-SLAPP law, arguing its coverage of Kay's public statements and actions about abortion qualify under the law's public interest and free speech criteria.
A July 14 statement published by The Bopp Law Firm, the Irish Rover's legal representatives, said the letter "J" was a symbol indicating people willing to help students access abortions.
"Healthcare in this context clearly referenced abortion-related services, not strep tests," the statement said.
