Ted Poe: “Graduating from high school and going to college is an important goal for many, many American teenagers. College offers…”

“Graduating from high school and going to college is an important goal for many, many American teenagers. College offers the promise of an education, new friends, and new experiences. When parents drop their children off at their new dorms, they are entrusting those universities with the well-being of their kids. The dark reality is that, in many cases, this trust is woefully misplaced. Mr. Speaker, approximately one in five women are sexually assaulted in college. That is one out of every five of our daughters, sisters, and friends. This shocking statistic would lead most people to assume that colleges have extensive protections to support those people on campus who may be sexually assaulted. This is just not the case. Last year one of these victims published an anonymous op-ed at Harvard about her attack. The title of her article was, ``It's Me, One of Your Statistics.'' She described the night of her attack. A friend invited her to his dorm room to study for an upcoming science midterm test. She thought nothing of it, but when she started to become uncomfortable, she decided it was important for her to leave. But he did not let her leave. He sexually assaulted her. After the attack, she ran to a friend's room for help. She refused to shower, knowing that she had to immediately get a rape kit done. Assuming the university would be able to help her, she called their health services department, but the news she received from them shocked her.…”