Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was an early activist in the issue of sexual assault, making his mark as a college student at Princeton University.
In an interview with
Business Insider, Cruz talked about his efforts to fight date rape on campus, and said he was motivated to act because the issue was one that hit close to home.
"When I was in student government in college, protecting student safety was a real priority, and no student should ever have to face the threat of sexual assault," Cruz told Business Insider.
"In my own family, my aunt experienced terrible abuse in prison in Cuba, and that made protecting women from assault all the more personal."
During his time at Princeton he served on the student government's permanent committee on campus safety from which he worked on anti-rape programs at the school. The committee had been created in response to a rape and stabbing which occurred in 1989, according to the Insider.
In his role, he emphasized the importance of addressing date rape and assaults, or "internal crime," an issue he said he felt was being overlooked in the administration's efforts to address "external crime."
Also during his time at Princeton, he was instrumental in increasing safety and rape education during Freshman Week and co-sponsored a Take Back The Night march, the Insider reported.
Cruz told the Insider that he hoped that his work at the university would help encourage some victims to report attacks.
"One of the greatest challenges in preventing sexual assault is that far too many victims are reluctant to report; the greatest cure for that is greater awareness. I hope my efforts had at least some small impact in that regards," Cruz said.
After he left Princeton in 1992, Cruz continued to work to address the issue of sexual assault in his professional life.
"Years later, when I was the Solicitor General of Texas, I argued numerous cases where vicious criminals had sexually assaulted women or children. In all my years in law enforcement, there were no cases I was more proud of litigating," he said.
Cruz said that the issue continues to be a priority in his political career, pointing to a bill he co-sponsored with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand aimed at making it easier to prosecute cases of sexual assault in the military, the Insider reported.
"It's why I'm working hand-in-hand with Sen. Gillibrand to pass sexual assault legislation for the military, and it's a major reason why I've spent so much of my career supporting law enforcement and seeking to bring criminals to justice," he told the Insider.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.