Disgraceful petition tells Notre Dame to apologize for a rape that never occurred

As we chronicled here, a St. Mary's college student committed suicide nine days after reporting to Notre Dame police that a Notre Dame football player had touched her breasts. St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak announced this week that he will not file criminal charges in the matter due to conflicting witness statements and cell phone records that were inconsistent with Seeberg's allegations.  In addition, Seeberg's statements to police would likely be inadmissible in court because she is no longer alive.  Read the post for a better understanding of the case.

A vile petition found on a major women's rights Web site urges readers to "Tell Notre Dame to Apologize for Rape Victim's Suicide and Revise Protocol."  It states, among other things: "On August 31, freshman Elizabeth Seeberg was assaulted by a football player at the University of Notre Dame. Nine days later, she took her life."

First, there never was even an allegation of rape, so a "rape" could not have been committed.  Second, while no one, aside from the accused young man, will ever know for certain, the only "victim" here appears to be accused football player. 

Feminists frequently chide those of us who advocate for the forgotten men and boys falsely accused of rape by suggesting that our advocacy detracts from the supposedly far more more serious problem of rape.

They would do well to closely examine their own ill-advised advocacy before attacking ours.  By taking an unfounded (and, based on the district attorney's findings, unlikely), claim that a presumptively innocent man touched a now-deceased witness' breasts, and transmogrifying it into a rape that certainly occurred, they trivialize actual rape with wild, and grossly unjust, exaggeration that seems motivated by a contempt for an entire gender.  It is not difficult to dismiss out of hand whatever concerns are expressed by such a group.