Quotes

Educator Student Sexual Assault

What survivors of have said:

"All I ever wanted was someone to listen and to hold me, nothing more!" "I began lying to my parents to create more time with her. There was a lot of guilt developing in me that I forced myself to ignore."

"He frequently indicated that our relationship was perfectly normal and told me that there were many students involved with teachers in our school."

"Because I trusted him and my parents liked him, I did not think this behavior was inappropriate."

"The abuse by him was horrible, but the punishment inflicted on me for being 'immoral' still hurts in my very soul."

"The teacher was transferred to another school and all the kids blamed me."

"I wound up moving away from the town to escape the harassment I was receiving from fellow students to keep my mouth shut."

"Our school administrator's utmost concerns were protecting the reputation of the teacher and the district."

"The idea of consent is so ridiculous. As students it is not our job to know better -- it is the teachers' job. It's their job to take care of us and guide us -- not exploit us or molest us. It is never the student's fault. We are young and we are learning. We are not expected to know better when it comes to math and English. Why should we be expected to know more on the issue of sexuality?"

What others have said:

"When one has experienced being sexually abused by a person who's in a position of trust or authority, the victim is never really the same" -- Donna Covello, former president of S.E.S.A.M.E. and survivor.

"These teachers involved in sexual misconduct cases] are not just well protected, they're over protected." -- Cathy Burke, columnist, New York Post