[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 197 (Thursday, December 13, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO BRENDA TRACY

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor a brave and 
passionate Oregonian who is an incredible example of a person finding 
bold solutions to challenging problems.
  I am proud to boast about my friend, Brenda Tracy, being named a 
Woman of Impact by Politico at its sixth annual Women Rule Summit.
  Brenda Tracy survived childhood sexual abuse. She is also a survivor 
of a brutal sexual assault that happened to her as a young single 
mother in Oregon. Brenda reported her sexual assault but she didn't 
speak of it publicly. She says that, at the time, she was saved by the 
compassion of a trauma nurse who treated her with dignity. Soon, Brenda 
went into nursing herself, graduating from the Oregon Health and 
Science University.
  After 16 years of silence, Brenda courageously decided, in 2014, to 
share her sexual assault survival story publicly. Going public has 
exposed her to harsh judgments, disbelief, unwanted publicity, and 
harassment.
  But since 2014, Brenda's story of survival also has positively 
reverberated across the entire country, sparking productive 
conversations and genuine reforms along the way.
  In 2016, Brenda began traveling the country to speak to high school 
and college athletic departments. As the founder of ``Set the 
Expectation,'' she has spoken to nearly 100 college athletic programs 
and several high schools, setting the expectation with thousands of 
athletes that physical assault and sexual violence are never okay.
  Set the Expectation is combating sexual and physical violence by 
directly engaging with men, who perpetrate 9 in 10 instances of 
domestic violence and sexual assault.
  Brenda says her efforts are geared toward men because, if women could 
stop sexual violence, they would have already. This is an all-hands-on-
deck nonpartisan national issue. Today, Brenda continues to share her 
story in order to educate, engage, and inspire athletes and coaches to 
become involved in the fight against sexual and physical violence.
  Sexual assault on college campuses is pervasive. An estimated one in 
five women who attend college will be sexually assaulted during her 
time there. Sexual assaults on campus spike by 40 percent when a 
Division I football team has a home game.
  When repeating those awful statistics, I hear folks grumble about 
their accuracy or about people falsely reporting assaults. The truth 
is; one assault is too many. Every year in college, too many students 
will have their lives permanently changed by assault. The reality is 
often worse for students in K-12 schools, where abused children, like 
Brenda once was, may be forced to suffer in silence, as even less 
attention is paid to their plight.
  Even knowing this, we have seen the President mock survivors of 
sexual violence on the national stage. His unacceptable words and 
actions reaffirm the dangerous notion that powerful men can take--
advantage of their influential positions to abuse women.
  We are now seeing Trump's Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, move 
to dismantle Federal enforcement of sexual violence protections. 
Secretary DeVos has doubled down even though survivor advocates, like 
Brenda, agree and have told her that these changes would make it much 
harder for sexual assault survivors to report their assaults.
  The fight against physical and sexual violence is far from over. It 
couldn't be more clear: there is more to do to ensure that fewer 
students experience sexual assaults and that more students feel 
protected and advocated for on campus. Like I said before, even one 
assault is too many. Until our society steps up and accepts this as a 
fact, we have work to do.
  Brenda said to me earlier this week that she can't wait to talk to 
her 10-month-old granddaughter about going to college. She said she 
can't wait for her granddaughter to say, ``Wow, Grandma. Things were 
really that bad? They are so much better now.''
  This really struck me because Brenda's unfailing optimism and candor 
are what will change the norms around sexual violence. Her courage in 
sharing her story is inspiring, and I know I join folks from around the 
country in saying: Congratulations, Brenda, and thank you!

                          ____________________