A 19-year-old Northbrook woman died of an apparent suicide nine days after telling University of Notre Dame police that she had been sexually attacked by a football player in a dorm room, the Tribune has learned. Posted on 11/22/2010 8:39:44 PM PST by mlizzy
A 19-year-old Northbrook woman died of an apparent suicide nine days after telling University of Notre Dame police that she had been sexually attacked by a football player in a dorm room, the Tribune has learned.
Elizabeth "Lizzy" Seeberg, a freshman at neighboring St. Mary's College who had battled depression, apparently overdosed on prescription medication in her own room during the third week of classes in September. The player, meanwhile, has remained on the field.
More than two months later, Notre Dame refuses to publicly acknowledge the case, and what actions university officials have taken to investigate her allegation remain largely unknown.
Campus authorities did not tell the St. Joseph County Police Department investigating Seeberg's death about her report of a sexual attack, county officials said. Nor did they refer the case to the county's special victims unit, which was established to handle sex offenses, according to prosecutors.
Former federal prosecutor Zachary Fardon, who tried ex-Gov. George Ryan, has been hired by Seeberg's parents to look into circumstances surrounding her allegations and Notre Dame's investigation.
"At this time, we're not prepared to make any comment about Notre Dame's investigation," he said Friday.
In the months since Seeberg's death, the university and its police force have denied formal requests for information from the Tribune, asserting it is not bound by open records laws that make public reports filed at other Indiana police departments.
The alleged attack occurred Aug. 31, the second week of classes at Notre Dame.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Sad. RIP.
but don't you dare wear a confederate flag shirt!
With the suicide/sexual assault story still unfolding, I think it best for me not to offer my personal views but rather simply to provide this information for you to evaluate. The University issued a statement today that is singularly uninformative, but presumably there will be more to come sooner or later. The issue will be whether Notre Dame will be shown to have acted with the even-handed justice and compassion and keen sensitivity to high moral values that should be the hallmark of a Catholic university. I think I am safe in saying that, correctly or not, the reports at the moment draw all of this into question. --Bill Dempsey, Project Sycamore
Isn’t Notre Dame the school that invited the Kenyan to speak, even though he’s a pro-death zealot?
It’s getting more and more painful. My husband is ND ‘81. Three of his siblings are alum, his father, his cousins, and his niece is ND ‘13. We still pray for the University [a lot], and my husband watches their football games, but this is horrible. Joe Scheidler from Pro-Life Action League, brought Jenkins aside at the March for Life, Washington, earlier this year, because Jenkins refused to meet with Joe (an alum as well) privately, and Scheidler said talking to Jenkins was like talking to a stone.
Yes, that’s unfortunately correct.
Exactly! I want the University to survive, but I want so much for Jenkins to no longer be at the helm.
I predict you’ll be seeing a lot more shameful stories.
And that’s the safest prediction I’ve ever made.
Yeah, I know, innocent until proven guilty— then stop trying to hide the initial report. If the guy is a rapist, she is sadly probably not the first or last victim.
From the school that demands prosecution of people holding up pro-life signs at the Obama speech.
Every single administrator at Notre Dame needs to be fired. Every one.
I’ll have to ask my husband if he recalls that, as he graduated in ‘81. I guess I can’t blame Obama (and of course Jenkins!) for all of this then. The hushing up of the story makes the whole thing that much worse, though.
From the school that demands prosecution of people holding up pro-life signs at the Obama speech. Every single administrator at Notre Dame needs to be fired. Every one.They have a few good administrators at ND (we confer with Charlie Rice from time to time and he fills us in on that), but otherwise, I'm in agreement with you ...
Yeah, cause the church is always on the up and up.
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