Ted Poe: “``Have courage and be kind.'' These were the words Megan Rondini left behind on a whiteboard in her school apartment.…”

“``Have courage and be kind.'' These were the words Megan Rondini left behind on a whiteboard in her school apartment. Yesterday, at a Sexual Assault on Campus Forum at Rice University in Houston, Texas, sponsored by the Victims' Rights Caucus, Megan's father, Mike Rondini, spoke these words. He is from Austin. He tries to live by these words every day. Megan Rondini was sexually assaulted while a student at the University of Alabama in 2015. Doing everything a sexual assault victim should do, Megan immediately called the police and went to the hospital, but the hospital did not have a sexual assault forensic examiner or a SANE on staff, meaning no one there was trained to properly deal with a sexual assault victim or properly collect DNA evidence for a rape kit. As a former prosecutor and a judge, I have seen, firsthand, the trauma and pain that rape causes victims. Sometimes that pain never goes away. The hospital's failure to provide adequate care left Megan feeling hopeless and alone. After the hospital, she went to the police station, and there she was treated with disdain. The police didn't believe her and instead read her, the victim--get this--the Miranda warnings. Are you kidding me? Rape is never the fault of the victim. When Megan sought counseling at the university, the counselor abruptly interrupted her and told her she was close to the family of the rapist and promptly turned Megan away, providing no other counselor.…”