James Madison University’s Embarrassing Handling of Sexual Abuse

JMU has always been a school that I’ve been proud to call home. A school that I brag about every chance I get, lighting up whenever anyone asks me about my college, my friends—my community. Today I felt the opposite. I felt embarrassed and ashamed. Even driving my car made me cringe every time I had to look in the review mirror and see the giant “James Madison University” sticker on my back windshield.

Many of you have read the Huffington Post article detailing three fraternity brothers sexually abusing a now former JMU student, Sarah Butters. Butters reported the incident to JMU over a year ago, providing the judicial affairs office with hard evidence of her attack: a video that the men had recorded of themselves as they groped Butters’ nearly naked body, passing her around as if she were a toy.

This incident alone is repulsive. It sickens me…