[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 198 (Tuesday, December 5, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H9625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SEXUAL ASSAULT ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, when teenagers select universities to 
attend, they assume that their school will protect and take care of 
them if something horrible occurs. Hannah was no different when she 
decided to attend Howard University in 2006. But on a Friday night of 
her sophomore year, she realized how deeply misplaced her trust in the 
school was.
  On that night, Hannah and her friends went to a fellow student's 
house party. It was a typical college evening filled with dancing and 
laughter, but it wasn't until the party began to wind down that 
Hannah's friends noticed she was missing. Hannah was always very safety 
conscious and never wandered off alone, so her friends were immediately 
worried and began frantically looking for her in the house. They called 
her name and searched the entire first floor. Hannah was nowhere to be 
found.
  They tried to go upstairs to search the second floor, but a man 
grabbed them and forced them down the stairs. He said that nobody was 
allowed to go upstairs. Hannah's friends argued with him. They screamed 
her name and threatened to call the police.
  Just as the situation was escalating, Hannah appeared at the top of 
the stairs. She was a mess. She was confused, and she was barely able 
to walk or to speak. The girls took Hannah by the arms and immediately 
left the house. Something really awful had happened to her, so they 
rushed her to the Howard University emergency room.
  Mr. Speaker, here is where the university system completely failed 
her. When the doctor finally came to see Hannah, he told her she was 
too drunk and she should go home and just sleep it all off. The friends 
begged the doctor to give her a rape kit, but he just refused and sent 
them away.
  This is malpractice, Mr. Speaker. Rape kits can provide critically 
important evidence in sexual assault cases, especially cases where the 
victim has been drugged.
  When Hannah woke up the next morning, she was in so much pain she 
could barely walk, so she called the police and returned to the 
university emergency room for a rape kit. But because Hannah couldn't 
remember exactly what happened and who her assailant was, the police 
and the hospital staff again refused to conduct a rape kit.
  Mr. Speaker, the purpose of a rape kit is to find out who the 
assailant was.
  Desperate and denied any assistance from her own university, Hannah 
still reached out for help. She went to George Washington University 
Hospital, but they told her that, since she was denied a rape kit at 
Howard University, she was not allowed to get one at this hospital. 
Hannah sought help and was rejected at every turn.
  This is tragic, Mr. Speaker.
  Most of us have kids. A lot of them go to universities--all four of 
mine did; three of them are girls--and we expect universities to do 
something to protect those students when a crime is committed against 
them. The doctors and medical staff at both university hospitals were 
apparently not trained to deal with traumatized rape victims, and they 
were clearly ignorant of how important forensic evidence is after an 
assault.
  So to ensure this doesn't happen to more victims, I have introduced 
legislation that would require a university to provide access to a 
nurse or a doctor who is properly trained to provide medical care for 
trauma rape victims or have a plan in place to quickly get a victim to 
a nearby hospital. Universities must have a plan in place or have 
access to a staffer.
  This bill is named the Megan Rondini Act in honor of another college 
rape victim from Texas, who was at the University of Alabama. She was 
denied proper post-rape treatment at a hospital. Eventually, she took 
her own life because of the fact that no one paid attention to her.
  This bill will ensure victims can access the care they need. Having a 
SAFE, sexual assault forensic examiner, or a SANE, sexual assault nurse 
examiner, for rape victims at universities ensures that rape kits are 
properly examined and collected.
  Universities not only need to have access to a SAFE, but they need to 
have a victim advocate trained in sexual assault on campus, and all 
rape kits from students and nonstudents must be quickly analyzed so 
that the offender can be determined.
  Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of rape kits all over the country 
sitting on police shelves that just haven't been examined. This is 
awful.
  Hannah was denied justice because of incompetence. Victims are 
people, too, Mr. Speaker, and schools, especially, should be prepared 
to deal with sexual assault victims; otherwise, there will be more 
victims like Hannah.
  And that is just the way it is.

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