Marquette Students today

As I was leaving the Marquette University library today I saw a large group of students holding up signs on the sidewalk in front. They were protesting the sexual assaults on women that have plagued college campuses. There are still two law enforcement investigations of alleged sexual assault cases pending at Marquette, one from last October and one from February. When we prayed in the lobby of the Marquette library last year the Marquette security called the Milwaukee Police right away. Yet when a girl alleged to Marquette security she was raped last October, it was never reported to law enforcement. When the victim reported it to the police recently another victim reported an alleged rape last February at the same dorm that she also had reported to security.
Marquette says it was not clear about what they needed to report to local law enforcement but the State and Federal laws clearly required that campus security report all such cases to local law enforcement.

But while Marquette is silent these students had the courage to take a stand for a end to this crime which affects one of every four woman college students.

The student protest against sexual assault comes in sharp contrast to the major news story of the day, the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US military yesterday in Pakistan. The rejoicing and celebration of this one criminal’s death sounds like military propaganda. As a response by Voices for Creative Nonviolece points out in article called Beyond Retaliation people of Afghanistan “live in a country where 850 children die every day, a country which the UN has termed the worst country in the world into which a child can be born, where the average life expectancy is 42 years of age.”

My friend from Holland who is now here giving a talk at Marquette Dorothy Day tomorrow sent me quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that, like the article, states my views on the big news of the day: “I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

While some rejoice in the streets for the death of one criminal I stand with the Marquette students breaking the silence on sexual assaults on college campus and with the people of Afghanistan who suffer so much and are ‘beyond retaliation’.

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