Tragedy Strikes Again

Nineteen year-old Elizabeth Seeburg committed suicide after being sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame University Football player. She filed the assault report with the St. Josephy County prosecutors, and weeks later, did not find the justice she was searching for. After noticing that her case was going nowhere, she decided to take her own life by overdosing on anti-depressant drugs. Other bloggers are criticizing Notre Dame University officials for refusing to disclose the name of the player, and allowing him to play in the USC v. NDU game this Saturday. 

 

This tragic story raises the question of what could have been done to prevent Elizabeth from taking her own lif? Campaigns like the, “It gets better project,” have been put into place to promote awareness for hate induced suicides. This campaign asks everyday people to post videos with words of encouragement for those who may be struggling with accepting, or having others accept, their sexuality. However, there is no such campaign in place to prevent rape by college football stars. 

It is sad that someone must die before the football programs at universities will even think about having any rape education for the athletes. Even if the football player is prosecuted (which already seems unlikely), it is not likely that he will lose his scholarship or even be kicked off of the team. Justice needs to be served for this young girl, and if the athlete cannot be properly prosecuted then the next best thing is to bring about awareness. Perhaps what happened in the situation is that the football player did not understand the concept of consent. Awareness programs and classes could have helped the player gain a better understanding of what constitutes rape. The small effort of finding someone to teach this class could have saved the life of young Elizabeth.