After Penn State, Michigan, Boy Scouts, we’re still surprised by sex abuse allegations at UK | Opinion

It’s happening again.

Recently, the Herald-Leader reported a federal lawsuit was filed by two University of Kentucky swimmers against the University of Kentucky, former coaches Lars Jorgensen and Gary Conelly, and athletic director Mitch Barnhart. The athletes state Jorgensen sexually groomed, groped, and raped them, and that he was allowed to create a toxic, sexually hostile environment inside the UK swim program for years. Reporting states before and during Jorgenson’s tenure at the university, UK was warned repeatedly about his documented pattern of behavior but did nothing.

We’ve heard this story before, yet it is happening again. We ask, “How can this be? Surely someone would have said something before now if the allegations are true.”

It has happened before. The Catholic Church covered up decades of sexual violence. We listened in disbelief as sexual violence against young boys in Penn State’s football program and young women on the Michigan State gymnastic team was revealed. We listened in shock as sexual violence within Boy Scouts USA came to light.

Every time we ask “How could this happen? Where were the people we relied on and expected to protect these victims? How could the abuse be so pervasive for so long? Why didn’t someone speak up? If they did, why were they ignored?” As we grapple with these questions and shake our heads in sadness, the abusers carry on harming victim after innocent victim.

After every new revelation of harm, we learn about the grooming strategies of perpetrators. We are heightened to the dangers of technology and social media. We learn the importance of being an active bystander and speaking up and saying something. We implement background checks when hiring people to work with children and vulnerable adults. We organize play dates and structured activities because we have learned to not let our kids run free. We think we can spot the signs and have the skills to protect our children, our families, our community.

Yet it keeps happening.

UK is an institution of higher learning. It is the birthplace of the nationally renowned Green Dot bystander intervention program. It is where the Center for Research on Violence Against Women was founded.

But it’s happening here.

As the facts keep unfolding, the response is a sad echo of previous traps: silence, disbelief, denial, minimizing victims’ stories, assessing whether the victims are worthy of our empathy and compassion, asking if the abuse was some fault of the victims.

Recently proposed legislation in the KY General Assembly would have made it more difficult for teachers and coaches charged with abuse or misconduct to move from school to school. Legislators were not opposed; yet, they failed to pass it. Perhaps the concern wasn’t worthy of follow through?

How is this still happening?

I recently read “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan, a historical fiction book about the scandal of the Magdalene Laundries within the convents of Ireland. The book explores the silent, self-interested complicity of the community that made it possible for such violence to persist. The story implores readers to consider what they are doing about injustices today, especially the travesties that are difficult to consider too closely.

So the question is, reader, what are you going to do about this? You can do something while still loving BBN, your church, your organizations, and your schools. A good first step is acknowledging that people and institutions we love are capable of doing harm. After all, loving someone or something should give us more reason to call out injustices.

Does your school, church, or organization promote a community of safety? If someone were to come forward, would they be met with compassion? Would the accusation be investigated? Or would the victim witness more shaking heads in disbelief and eventually be silenced again? It’s time to respond differently as individuals and community. If we don’t, it will happen again.

Visit It’s Time Lexington to be part of the solution.

Diane E. Fleet is the Chair of the Lexington-Fayette Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention Coalition.