National Advocate for Sex Abuse Survivors Comments on Syracuse University Basketball Sex Abuse Investigation

NEW YORK, Nov 18, 2011  /PRNewswire/ -- Mark Serrano, a national advocate for sex abuse victims and a corporate crisis communications expert, issued the following statement today on the sex abuse investigation of Syracuse University Assistant Basketball Coach Bernie Fine:

"The victims of Syracuse Basketball Coach Bernie Fine are to be commended for coming forward to seek justice and healing after many years of suffering in silence. Having learned the story eight years ago when the abuse was first reported to the police and the university, I share in the victims' relief."

"As was tragically discovered at Penn State, when authorities fail to act, kids are put at risk. Despite the best efforts of the victim to report the abuse to authorities nearly a decade ago, this disclosure was too long in coming. One of the victims, Bobby Davis, did the right thing by reporting the crimes to law enforcement, but the police and the university took no action. Sadly, we can only imagine how many other victims may now have the courage to come forward."

"As a crisis communications professional, I believe the self-serving statement from Syracuse University is a sign that university officials are circling the wagons and making the very same mistakes that Penn State made in the wake of that scandal."

"The university continues to place its own image and the prestige of its nationally prominent athletic department ahead of the interests of the victims who came forward to report many years of child molestation at the hands of a university official."

"In cases of sexual abuse, victims need a great deal of reassurance to come forward. Many victims suffer in silence for years fearing that no one will take their allegations seriously. In this case Bobby Davis' complaints were dismissed by university officials and the police."

"I feel it is also necessary to commend the ESPN reporting team that pursued this case for eight years. ESPN reporter Mark Schwartz and producer Arty Berko were compassionate, professional, and persistent in pursuit of the truth."

Serrano is available for additional commentary. Video commentary to be available for download at www.proactivecommunications.com/syracusecommentary.html

About Mark Serrano: A sex abuse survivor and national advocate, Serrano offers both personal experience and expert knowledge on this highly sensitive subject. At the outset of the Catholic Church child sex abuse crisis in 2002, Serrano's story of abuse and secrecy was featured in a front page story in the New York Times. The story made Serrano the first clergy abuse survivor to publicly break a gag order in a church settlement through the national media. Serrano is a recipient of the Voice of Courage Award, presented to him by Darkness to Light, an organization nationally recognized for its work in childhood sexual abuse prevention and education. Serrano is also a past member of the Board of Directors for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). In 1996, Serrano founded ProActive Communications (www.proactivecommunications.com), a leading strategic communications firm which provides expert corporate crisis communications counsel.

SOURCE ProActive Communications