TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)
A gang rape has happened each of the last four years at Baylor University in Texas. On a new website, the school’s president pledges to be “more transparent” about sexual violence on campus. But we’re highly skeptical.
The very top of the website shows a defensive posting that criticizes one media outlet for its coverage of the Baylor scandal. That’s hardly “transparent” or encouraging. We suspect this new site is essentially the creation of the school’s public relations and legal defense teams, not a genuine effort to prevent sexual violence.
If President David E. Garland is genuinely interested in promoting openness about rape and sexual assault, he should promptly and publicly punish – or at least suspend – at least one school staffer who ignored or concealed sexual violence. That’s the quickest, clearest and most effective way to begin to reform a campus climate that has historically been secretive and unhealthy when it comes to the safety of students. Until he takes this simple step, his words will continue to ring hollow.
No matter what law enforcement, university or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups at Baylor to protect others by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling attorneys, and be comforted by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.
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