Post by Philip Foley
We celebrate President Barack
Obama’s initiative to combat sexual assault on college campuses.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/obama-college-sexual-assault_n_4643852.html
Laura Dunn (formerly of PAVE)
from SurvJustice.Org, http://www.survjustice.org/ bravely spoke publicly of
her sexual assault while a college student.
Ms. Dunn’s courage to speak was instrumental in supporting Kathleen on
her journey to continue speaking through her books and articles. Tragically, We
also had a niece impregnated by rape in college.
President Obama’s initiative
needs to be expanded to include all high school and junior high schools.
In the last several years, the
news has covered the tragic story of several high school girls who committed
suicide as a result of being raped and the public humiliation and blame that
was vested on them.
Kathleen was in high school when
she was impregnated by rape. Our goddaughter was raped by a high school
teacher. Several of Kathleen’s fellow students were victims of unreported
sexual assault by a teacher. This was not a secret to anyone attending the
school, however, no one took any action.
We reached out to Kathleen’s
former high school, sending a copy of her book to every educator in the school.
We wanted to provide information for these educators, hopefully making them
more alert to the signs of current students who are being sexually abused. Our effort was met with total silence. We even followed up with the Superintendent
of Schools who stated he would look into the matter. Again, total silence.
The Obama administration’s report
"Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed
Call to action," http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/sexual_assault_report_1-21-14.pdf says that 1 in 5 women have been
sexually assaulted at college but that only 12 percent of student victims
report the assault.
The report was compiled by the
White House Council on Women and Girls. It says nearly 22 million American
women and 1.6 million men have been raped in their lifetimes. The Ms. Foundation
for Women, http://forwomen.org/, reported in The Road to Equality that the
number one victims of rape are children aged 17 or younger. This supports our
call to include all high and junior high schools.
We totally support the
President’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, chair of the Council on Women and
Girls, stating that men must be involved to combat the problem.
The report also
declares that the criminal justice response to sexual assault is too often
inadequate. As a former police supervisor
I recognize this problem, however, I believe the criminal justice system and
it’s requirement to overcome “reasonable doubt” places victims in a very
venerable emotional and physical position. Perhaps the criminal justice system
is not the best place to attack this epidemic.
