March 23, 2017      5:06 PM

Fallout from the Baylor sex assault scandal: Texas lawmakers are asked to protect victims

As a young victim says “Please stop protecting my attacker,” Sen. Birdwell said he is “profoundly concerned with the rights of the accused,” though he does support the legislation on the table

Survivors of sexual assault appeared before the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee Thursday, urging lawmakers to pass proposed measures that would work to improve reporting of such crimes on university campuses.

Among them were women from Texas A&M University, Trinity University, The University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University. The women shared personal accounts of assault and explained why this legislation is so important to them.

“A little over a year ago I was assaulted by a guy who I’d just met,” said Paige Hardy, a sophomore at Baylor University to a panel of lawmakers. “My friends, my family society, have all told me that this was my fault. That because alcohol was involved, I deserved it. That ‘maybe’ means ‘yes’ and ‘no’ means ‘convince me.’ That if I didn’t call the police within minutes of my attacks, I must be lying.”

By Eleanor Dearman

Copyright March 23, 2017, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved