What Do Liberty University, Sexual Assault Kits, and the FBI Have In Common?
Welcome back Chaise Lounge readers and an especially warm welcome to our newest subscribers! The Olympics are in full swing and providing both entertainment and fodder for news. We are watching the persistent argument over what female athletes should wear. From the German gymnastics team wearing full-body leotards to the Norwegian women’s beach handball team facing fines by wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms, this topic is on the map now.
But this week, we will be investigating the connections between a variety of news stories from the past two weeks that make clear just how far we have to go before women can feel comfortable that reporting sexual assaults will result in being believed and having their assault fully investigated.
Now, onto our weekly updates!
Global News Update
For the first time in history, Saudi women are standing guard in Mecca for the Hajj. Wearing khaki uniforms with black berets, the women are part of the security detail for the annual pilgrimage. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has created the Vision 2030 which allows women to drive and leave the home without a male guardian. While this is a positive and symbolic step, women’s rights have a long way to go in Saudi Arabia.
According to the International Labor Organization’s most recent report, women’s employment fell more than men’s during the pandemic and is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels without intentional supports. Interestingly, women in the Americas suffered the worst losses of 9.4%. Countries like Columbia and Chile built in subsidies for women while Senegal supported women entrepreneurs. The report recommends “Building forward fairer” by placing gender equity issues at the top of any recovery plans.
National News Updates
Last week, Senator Patty Murray introduced the Women’s Retirement Protection Act. The purpose of the bill is to protect retirement resources for spouses. If the bill passes, then one spouse cannot make a decision that will affect the retirement savings for both of them. The bill also supports community organizations that help domestic abuse survivors who are trying to access retirement benefits.
As the child tax credits start rolling out this month, families who have been living in poverty are breathing a sigh of relief. Families are planning to use the money for basic needs like diapers and food and to help pay for daycare, the biggest line item in their budgets. Parents are looking at this money as a way to climb out of poverty and give their children some of the opportunities that they otherwise could not have afforded. One study estimates that the rate of families in poverty could move from 13.6 to 7.5%.
What Do Liberty University, Sexual Assault Kits, and the FBI Have in Common?
Over the past few weeks, a number of news stories caught my eye as they illustrate how far we have to go in enforcing laws against sexual assault and harassment. While the #MeToo movement illuminated just how pervasive sexual harassment and assault are, it only started some difficult conversations and reflections. But a look at recent stories tells me that we have a long, long way to go before we see harassment and assault taken seriously in this country.
It does not matter how strong the laws and tools are if the people who are supposed to enforce them do not act. In each of these stories, law enforcement authorities looked the other way when they knew that sexual assaults were happening, even when the victims were minors.
Liberty University Sued by twelve women for sexual assaults
Last week news broke that twelve women, including students and employees, are suing Liberty University alleging that the school covered up their sexual assaults. Each of these 12 women reported their assault to the Liberty University Police thinking that they would receive support. But instead of investigating the assaults, the women were ignored or even worse punished for violating the ”Liberty Way” (the student Honor Code that prohibits sexual contact between students). Because these women were reporting sexual contact, they were punished and fined rather than supported.
One of the women who reported being sexually assaulted was fifteen at the time and attending a camp at the university campus. When she reported her assault, not only did the police disbelieve her account, but they forced her to be photographed in the nude. Years later, the man who assaulted her, whom she had identified, went on to kill two other college students, Morgan Harrington of Virginia Tech and Hannah Graham of UVA. We will never know if those two young women would still be alive if the Liberty University Police had simply believed the fifteen-year-old camper and completed an investigation.
The FBI ignores evidence of sexual assault of Team USA gymnasts
Two other stories were also reported last week involving the FBI. In the first case, Inspector General Michael Horowitz published a scathing report criticizing the FBI's handling of the investigation of Larry Nassar, the doctor who sexually abused scores of gymnasts. Within the report, we learn that the FBI’s Indianapolis office kept very shoddy records of the little work that they did. Later on, when questions arose, they created fake records based on their recollections. However, according to those who were interviewed by the FBI, those records do not represent what they said. The field office in Indianapolis failed to alert the field office in Lansing, Michigan where Dr. Nassar practiced or any of the local authorities, yet they claimed that they had. Not only that, one of the lead investigators was angling for a job with the United States Olympic Committee upon his impending retirement, a clear breach of ethics. It was only because some of the gymnasts were so relentless in their quest for justice and made their stories public, that the case was finally taken up in Lansing. In the meantime, at least forty more gymnasts had been molested by Dr. Nassar.
FBI Ignores over 4,500 tips regarding Brett Kavanaugh
The second story involving the FBI involved the 4,500 tips that came into the FBI tip line regarding Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh. You may recall that during his confirmation hearing, the Senate called a one-week pause in the hearings because of the allegations from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford regarding an attempted sexual assault by Justice Kavanaugh when they were in high school. The purpose of the pause was to allow the FBI time to complete a more robust background check on Justice Kavanaugh. But what we found out this week is that while over 4,500 tips came into the tip line, a few were forwarded to the White House lawyers, and the others were ignored. So it turns out that we will never know whether out of those thousands of tips if there was information about Justice Kavanaugh that would have given support to Dr. Blasey-Ford’s testimony or other events that could have affected his nomination.
Sexual Assault Kits go untested for decades
The final story is ongoing. Over the past few years, we learned that there is a large backlog of sexual assault kits that have never been tested, some decades old. If you haven't followed the story, you should know that thousands of the sexual assault kits were destroyed, stored in poor conditions that degraded the DNA, or just languished on police storage shelves for years. Fortunately, the Department of Justice has created a program and funding to get rid of this backlog of kits. As they work their way through the kits, numerous teams have found the DNA of men who have gone on to rape more women over the years. It will take years to clear the backlog, and the real question is why did this happen to begin with?
One story that brings it all together
In 2013, Shannon Keeler was sexually assaulted by a fellow student at her college. She went to the hospital and had a rape kit completed, several friends who were witnesses to the perpetrator following her home, and the perpetrator’s name. Yet for some reason, the rapist had never been charged. It wasn’t until the rapist sent her a Facebook message seven years later admitting that he had raped her that prosecutors took another look at the case. However, the rapist has lived overseas and they can no longer find him. In the meantime, her rape kit was lost or destroyed. Who knows if he has repeated his crime?
What now?
So within a few week's worth of news, we have a university that punishes women for being sexually assaulted, an FBI that doesn't do its job to protect minor women from a molester and also buries evidence around a potential sexual assaulter, and police departments that only recently have started to actually pay attention to the evidence that sexual assault kits provide. Each of these events has a common thread - a woman, or group of women, who report sexual assaults and are either ignored, dismissed or disbelieved leading to her public castigation and humiliation. And people wonder why sexual assault victims are reluctant to report.
What will it take to create real and meaningful change on this topic? The DOJ’s sexual assault kit initiative is a good start, but what else must happen? We clearly have a problem within law enforcement and their attitude toward sexual assaults. How can it be fixed? I would love to hear your thoughts, reflections, experiences, and ideas.
Just For Fun
so infuriating. Comforted to know that at least here in NC we have AG Josh Stein working to test all the backlogged kits.