Notre Dame’s bowl appearance puts Lizzy Seeberg story back in the news

Early this year Melinda Henneberger, a political writer for the Washington Post and lead writer on the Post’s She the People blog, approached NCR with a story.

Two years before, in 2010, Lizzy Seeberg, a 19-year-old freshman at Saint Mary’s College, situated across the street from the University of Notre Dame, committed suicide after accusing a Notre Dame football player of sexually assaulting her. Seeberg reported the incident to campus police, but they did not interview the student athlete in question for another 15 days — five days after her death.

Six months later the university held a closed-door disciplinary hearing at which the player testified. He was found “not responsible.” And he kept playing football.

On Jan. 7 this young man will be on the field as Notre Dame faces Alabama in the BCS National Championship game in Miami, and as a result, has generated renewed interest in the story NCR ran last March: Reported sexual assault at Notre Dame campus leaves more questions than answers

A Notre Dame graduate from a family of Notre Dame graduates, Henneberger has been critical of her alma mater's handling of sex assault cases.

Henneberger wrote about the story again on the Washington Post website: Why I won’t be cheering for old Notre Dame, and she was on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC: Accountability in the World of Football. The clip of that show is below. Sorry you have to watch an ad first.

 

 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

 

Latest News

Advertisement