News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: May 7, 1999
Contact: Elaine Justice, Assistant Director

Emory Law Student Wins Highest Student Honor For Efforts To Revise Georgia's Rape Laws

Graduating Emory University law student Cameron Welborn has been featured in People magazine and interviewed on radio and TV, but it's not her media savvy that has earned her the university's highest student honor at its 1999 commencement ceremonies May 10. Welborn is being recognized with the university's Marion Luther Brittain Award for her tireless efforts to revise Georgia's rape statutes.

The award is given each year as an expression of gratitude to a student for service performed without expectation of reward or recognition. Welborn, daughter of Dr. James and Dorothy Welborn of Redding, Calif., never imagined that she would be involved in an activist crusade until a harrowing personal experience opened her eyes. At a party on Halloween night 1997, she fell unconscious after someone slipped her a powerful sedative such as GHB or Rohypnol, commonly known as "date rape drugs."

Fortunately, Welborn's friends helped her and she was not assaulted, but the experience spurred her to organize a forum last year educating the campus and community on the dangers to unsuspecting people when drugs are used for rape. At that event Welborn began to understand the difficulties of prosecuting sexual offenders under current Georgia law. She and law school friends Jill Uiberall and Rachel Brod began drafting legislation that elaborates on the definition of consent in ways the current law doesn't address.

The outlook for passage of House Bill 1074, during the next Georgia legislative session is favorable, she says. The bill has been named a top legislative priority by the state's Prosecuting Attorneys Council and women's groups, and sponsors include Rep. Jim Martin, chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Although she led the grassroots effort, Welborn credits many people for the success of the legislation thus far and says she's learned the importance of working toward a common goal with people who have many different viewpoints. "I've also learned that you can affect positive political change without having money, prestige or power," she says. Still, being an Emory student helped. "People saw me as being associated with a diverse community instead of a narrow organization or interest group," she says.

An honors graduate of the University of Arizona, Welborn served as an undergraduate intern with the office of U.S. Sen. John McCain, as a court appointed special advocate and as a campus advocate for rape awareness. At Emory she was associate editor of the Bankruptcy Developments Law Journal, president of the Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC), a member of the President's Commission on the Status of Women, and an intern in the office of the DeKalb County district attorney.

As she leaves Emory for a job with the district attorney's office in San Diego, Calif., Welborn says she plans to continue working on public policy issues and improving laws that help women and children. She urges other young women to do the same. "I hope that students will see this as an example of what you can accomplish working with the university and community on issues that affect us all."

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