Meanwhile, back in Steubenville, Ohio…
A year ago this week, Michael McVey, the superintendent of schools in Steubenville, Ohio, sat in a conference room down the hall from his office and said he knew none of the details of Aug. 11, 2012, the night a 16-year-old girl was raped by two Steubenville High football players at a series of parties on a hot summer night.
Nope, he said, he didn’t know much, aside from the rumors that had been swirling around the football-crazy town for months. He told me and a colleague that he had not spoken with any of the students thought to be involved in the event because it hadn’t taken place on school grounds or during the school year. Besides, he said, he usually let the football coach take care of that sort of thing.
That all changed drastically Monday, when Ohio’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, made it McVey’s business.
McVey was one of four adults charged with crimes this week as a result of an investigation into the Steubenville rape case…
Well good.
Even if the latest indictments do not produce convictions, DeWine’s aggressive stance is an important moment. By holding adults accountable, prosecutors might persuade school administrators and coaches to make it their business to tell the police when they hear students or athletes have done something illegal. And maybe the police will be more diligent about investigating such complaints.
And maybe, just maybe, school administrators and coaches will even start to do a better job of telling their athletes, “No, really, we mean it: do not rape, and that includes fucking girls who’ve gotten shitfaced and are falling down. We’re not kidding around. We are deadly serious.”