[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 59 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E451-E452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             MEGAN RONDINI

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 12, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Megan Rondini was a young college 
student at the University of Alabama. She was a bright young woman with 
her whole life ahead of her. What happened next should have never 
transpired. Megan was raped by a man from a rich family in Tuscaloosa, 
Alabama. After Megan managed to escape Bunn by fleeing outside a second 
story window, she headed to a hospital for a rape kit. She did 
everything a victim should do.
  But it was here the system began to fail her. The hospital did not 
have a sexual assault forensic examiner or SAFE on staff, so they had 
nobody trained to properly deal with a sexual assault victim or trained 
to properly collect DNA evidence.
  When she went to the police station, she was treated with disdain and 
disbelief, dismissed and ignored. The police didn't believe her, and 
treated her like a criminal. They even read her--the victim--her 
Miranda Rights.
  Megan was failed by the system at every turn. Feeling like she had no 
other option, she tragically took her own life.
  The injustices she endured started a national dialogue about campus 
sexual assault, an issue that is extremely pervasive in our society, 
but one that very few people wanted to

[[Page E452]]

talk about. The outrage generated forced many universities to re-
evaluate and change how they handle victims of sexual assault. 
Legislators on both sides of the isle came together on local, state and 
federal levels to try to come up with new laws and real solutions.
  Many hospitals and university infirmaries have begun hiring and 
recruiting staff trained. specifically to handle sexual assault cases. 
Countless future victims will benefit from the changes that have been 
implemented because of Megan Rondini. And those changes have only just 
begun. We will all continue to fight in her name to make the system 
better for victims.
  Each year the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus honors outstanding 
individuals and organizations for their tireless efforts supporting and 
empowering survivors of crime. Co-chaired and co-founded by Jim Costa 
(D-CA) and myself, the bipartisan caucus advocates for crime victims 
and protects programs that provide critical support for related 
services. Today, I am proud to announce Megan Rondini as the recipient 
of the Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus Suzanne McDaniel Memorial 
Award for Public Awareness. The Public Awareness Award is in memory of 
Susanne McDaniel, one of the first prosecutor-based victim advocates in 
Texas and the nation. There is no doubt, Megan's story has 
overwhelmingly brought change at the National level for crime victims.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________