Liz Seccuro and the Cav Daily

In 1984, during her freshman year at the University of Virginia, Liz Seccuro was drugged and raped at a fraternity party. She sought help from the University and from the hospital alike, yet no one would help her. When her attacker contacted her with a letter of confession and "apology" 22 years later, Seccuro contacted the police,

and was shocked to learn that, unlike what she and her parents had been told by University of Virginia officials in 1984, Charlottesville Police Department did indeed have jurisdiction over the fraternity house where she had been raped and that there is no statute of limitations on felony rape in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Seccuro also learned Beebe had been “tracking” her for nine years with the aid of the University of Virginia Alumni office.

Her attacker was tried, convicted, and given "10-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended." Yet, today news breaks that he is to be released after serving only six months. As much as we would like to believe that we live in a society that now has a clearer understanding of how heinous a crime rape truly is, Seccuro and other victims still face a hostile audience when they try to speak out against their attackers. The repugnance and tragedy of this is perhaps best understood by reading Seccuro's own words as she attempts to combat the misinformation published about her in a callous and idiotic piece published in the school news paper of her, and my, alma mater. Reading a sexual assault survivor having to try to teach basic compassion to a college-age girl attending the same university where she herself was attacked and failed to get assistance... it sickens me to realize just how far we still have to go.