USF President Got Call From VA Over Treatment of Florida Veteran

VA Secretary requests meeting with USF President over former student with PTSD 
WFLA News
By Mary McGuire
Published: December 29, 2015

“Veterans involved in a VTC program experience significant improvement in PTSD, depression, substance abuse, emotional well-being, relationships with others, recovery status, social connectedness, family functioning, and sleep.” Robert A. McDonald

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)– U.S. Army Green Beret Clay Allred’s fight to be reinstated as a student at the University of South Florida is now gaining the attention of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Allred was disqualified for enrollment at the University after a violent episode in 2014, triggered by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Earlier this month, his house arrest order was terminated, but he still has not been granted entry to the University to complete the 17 credits he needs to get his degree.

Now, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald is urging the University to reconsider, requesting a sit-down meeting with University President Dr. Judy Genshaft to discuss the ways the VA and the University can work together to educate veterans who have completed veteran’s treatment court programs.
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'My soul is broken,' mother of beaten teen says

'My soul is broken,' mother of beaten teen says
By Dong-Phuong Nguyen, Times Staff Writer
In print: Friday, July 11, 2008

TAMPA

From the day she was born, her mother's dream for her was that she go to college.

The family raised her to put education first so that she could one day contribute something positive to a society that gave her immigrant mother freedom.

The girl with the dark silky hair is supposed to be preparing for college at the University of Florida, where she has a full scholarship.

Instead, she lies limp in a hospital bed, unable to do simple things like swallow, talk or stand. She can blink her eyes, yet she cannot see.

"Her brain is damaged," her mother said Thursday during an interview conducted in Vietnamese. "My soul is broken."

The 18-year-old was a senior at East Bay High School on April 24, the night she was raped and her skull bashed while she was returning books to the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library.

In the months following, her family locked itself away from the world, stepping into a private, numbing hell that few can ever comprehend.
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