LMU Honors Abarbanel for Work with Rape Survivors

UNIVERSITY NEWS | Gail Abarbanel, founder and director of the Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Loyola Marymount University. The university is honoring Abarbanel’s vision, leadership and tireless commitment to social justice in her work with rape survivors, and the police and medical health personnel who assist the survivors. The Rape Foundation supports the Rape Treatment Center, Stuart House, and the Verna Harrah Sexual Assault Examination Clinic, through Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

“Gail’s work exemplifies LMU’s mission to be men and women with and for others,” said Lane Bove, senior vice president for student affairs. “Gail has given voice to the voiceless and empowered those who feel powerless; she has made victims of rape, who often feel broken, whole again. LMU is honored to pay tribute to her public service and commitment.”

The degree ceremony will be April 25, 2018, at 10:30 a.m., in the Life Sciences Building Auditorium. RSVP for the event here.

Abarbanel’s focus on victims of sexual assault began when she was a social worker providing counseling at Santa Monica Hospital. In 1974, a young woman was brought to the ER after attempting suicide. She had been raped several days earlier and had told no one because she felt ashamed and feared her family’s reaction. After working with that young woman, Abarbanel became determined to ensure that no sexual assault victim in Los Angeles felt isolated and alone again.

Her work with the center extends beyond providing free, state-of-the-art treatment, medical and forensic services for victims of sexual assault. Her efforts have resulted in state and federal laws that benefit victims; training for thousands of police officers and prosecutors on how to respond to victims; and education about sexual assault and prevention strategies for hundreds of thousands of students in local high schools and middle schools.

She also launched a major education campaign to help universities develop effective new policies and programs to deal with rapes involving college students, including an award-winning prevention film, “Campus Rape.”

“We believe that the silence that has for so long surrounded these crimes must end,” writes Abarbanel on the foundation’s website.

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