RALEIGH, N.C. _ There is a power in honesty.
Brenda Tracy understands this better than most. She provides raw, unflinching details when she delivers her story as a gang-rape survivor to college athletes across the country.
There are no ellipses in her text, no blanks left to be filled in by the audience, like the one she had at N.C. State in April when she spoke to all of the university's male athletes as a part of her "Set The Expectation" initiative.
Tracy was back on campus on Thursday for the first of several events connected to her national campaign against interpersonal violence. She will also serve as an honorary team captain for the Wolfpack football team on Saturday for their home game against Ball State.
Her candor on topics many people don't want to talk about _ rape, sexual assault, violence against women _ brings out the worst in college football fans on social media. There's a Sisyphean quality to her daily grind on Twitter.
"The hatred I get from people on social media, those are the ones who don't appreciate honesty," Tracy said in a phone interview with the News & Observer Tuesday.
"But the athletes I meet and talk to, they absolutely appreciate it. They love that I don't hold anything back."
N.C. State's "Set The Expectation" game Saturday will be the first by an ACC team. It's not the only #STE game, though. Stanford will be playing its third annual awareness game.
"I can't get to every game now," Tracy said. "That's a good problem to have."
