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. . . . . . . . . . tonight on "nightline," countless assaults. a widespread problem that goes unreported. at colleges, a shocking one in five college women is the victim of rape. we look at a heartwrenching case on one campus that had tragic results. plus, ghosts of the forest. we take an extraordinary journey to an exotic jungle where our cameras capture a never before filmed creature. these amazing animals, can they be saved? >> road to prosperity. tonight on "nightline," campus assaults. it's a widespread problem that too often goes unreported. sexual assaults at colleges. statistics show a shocks one in five college women is the victim of rape or attempted rape. we look at a heart-wrenching case on one campus that had tragic results. plus, ghosts of the forest. we take an extraordinary journey to an exotic jungle where our cameras capture a never before filmed creature. an endangered kangaroo. can these amazing animals be saved? and road to prosperity? as thousands sat in holiday traffic, president obama unveiled a $50 billion bill to create jobs by improving transportation infrastructure, but will congress get on board? good evening. we hope you've had a pleasant labor day. i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin with ed students flood dak to campuses across the country, a shocking reality. the prevalence of sexual assault. the most recent studies show one in five college women is the victim of rape or attempted rape. the recent report by the center for public intelling writty intelling writty shows most colleges vastly underreport sexual assault. in fact, 77% of schools recently reported zero sexual offenses a year. tonight on "nightline," campus assaults. it's a widespread problem that too often goes unreported. sexual assaults at colleges. statistics show a shocks one in five college women is the victim of rape or attempted rape. we look at a heart-wrenching case on one campus that had

tragic results. plus, ghosts of the forest. we take an extraordinary journey to an exotic jungle where our cameras capture a never before filmed creature. an endangered kangaroo. can these amazing animals be saved? and road to prosperity? as thousands sat in holiday traffic, president obama unveiled a $50 billion bill to create jobs by improving transportation infrastructure, but will congress get on board? good evening. we hope you've had a pleasant labor day. i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin with educat she had beautiful freckles. i used to tell her she was kissed b >> cindy mcgrath lives every day with a tra >> this is her first holy communion. >> reporter: made worse by her deep sense it could have all been avoided. >> she broke down and she said, mom, i've been raped. i've been raped. >> reporter: her daughter megan wright was a shy pretty freshman here at dominican college, a small catholic school in orangeburg, new york, less than an hour from manhattan. >> it was almost like she would have gone into a fetal position if she could have. >> reporter: meghan told her mother she believed she was drug and raped by multiple men after attending a party in her dorm in may of 2006. the surveillance video shows a

disoriented seemingly impaired megan being led in and out of a room by several different men. some students, some not. the following morning she told her best friend kelly rocco what had happened. >> she just stood there and said i think i was raped last night. >> what did you say? >> i asked her how she felt. she said there was blood in her underwear. we got up and we went to the hospital by my house. she had a rape kit and her face was just in so much pain as they were doing everything. >> reporter: a devastating violation for any woman. but according to megan's brother shawn, even more traumatic for a girl as innocent and reserved as megan. she wasn't a party girl? >> no, not at all. she -- that would be a little shocking to see her at a party. >> boy crazy? >> no, no. i don't remember -- i don't remember any boys actually. >> reporter: megan wright did exactly what women are told they should do after a rape. immediately told a friend and went to the hospital. but according to her family, it did nothing to help her get justice on campus. when her mother arrived on

campus that next day, they reported the incident to megan's resident adviser and then the dean, but got little satisfaction. >> we saw him standing at his doorway very nonchalant with his sandwich in his hand like who's bothering me? >> what did the dean say to all this? >> this is the first day of finals. the dean offered her no accommodations. she left her math final crying. she couldn't sit and take it. >> how was she over the summer? >> she wasn't great. she was traumatized. >> reporter: megan fell into a deep depression. desperate to return to her life at dominican she was too afraid that the man who assaulted her were still on campus. but even though her alleged attackers had left dominican of the school inexplicably never told megan. she would have gone back, do you think? >> i wouldn't have been able to stop her. >> did she hear from anyone at dominican college?

>> nothing. >> a phone call from the dean? >> no. >> so she felt they had dumped >> completely. they did dump her. >> most schools have implemented strict procedures for when an assault is reported. but campus rape is a problem that just won't seem to go away. according to the most recent statistics one in five college women will be the victim of rape or attempted rape and only 12% of those women report it. and the men found responsible for such attacks, only 10% to 25% are ever permanently expelled. believing her alleged rapists were still at dominican megan quit school. at home listless and sad she tumbled into a downward spiral i just want to lay down and take just for two hours. >> reporter: but when her mother went to check on her the door was locked. >> she wasn't answering, so i paper clip or something and

popped the lock open and then i realized there was a chair in front of the door. >> reporter: mcgrath pushed her way into the room and walked over to megan's bed. >> i put my hand on something really warm and it was a plastic bag, and it was over her head. her head was in the plastic bag. and i pulled the bag off and i i called for shawn and i told him to call 911 and i started to try to give her mouth to mouth and i kept trying to get her to wake up and i kept telling her don't go. >> reporter: now cindy mcgrath is suing dominican college alleging it failed to properly conduct an investigation into meagan's case,

thereby violating title ix. gloria allred is representing mcgrath. why this lawsuit? >> it is a form of sex discrimination to deny a student an educational opportunity based on her gender, a victim who reports a sexual assault to a college that was receiving federal funds has a right to expect under the law that that college will conduct a fair, a thorough, an independent investigation and we take very seriously a college's duty and we want it enforced and when they violate it, there are real consequences. >> reporter: the lawsuit also alleges that dominican violated the law by not accurately disclosing the number of sexual assaults reported on its campus. misled into thinking it was a safe campus and sending her

beloved daughter there. so they failed miserably. >> reporter: no one from dominican college would agree to an interview given the ongoing litigation, but the college did provide this statement to "nightline" through its attorney saying "they did immediately commence their own investigation and that they also provided megan with contacts to counseling services and an opportunity to delay her finals for several months." >> she had the most beautiful beautiful eyes. >> reporter: cindy mcgrath says sent condolences or even a representative to megan's >> they didn't show any compassion or care. i mean, this is a young lady who even requested at one last effort to have a meeting with the president of the school and to this day we're still waiting for that phone call back. >> that was what year? >> that was may of 2006.

>> dominican college also told us while they were deeply saddened by megan's death, they believe the court will find they acted appropriately. the full report from the center for public integrity, visit our website at abcnews.com. we thank them for their help with this story. when we come back, we'll shift gears to encounter an other-worldly creature captured by cameras for the first time, the elusive tree kangaroo. roducts have some kind of intelligence built in... refrigerators order groceries from the store. washing machines run when energy prices are lowest... and dryers call for service before they break down. air conditioners respond to local weather reports. software gives businesses new ways to connect to customers. by making things smarter, life gets better. that's what i'm working on.

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beneath the canopy of the world's tropical rain forest liv untold wonders of nature, creatures wrapped in leafy mystery. we visited one in papua new guinea. it's a place that happens to be home to an unusual and endangered animal that's never been captured on film until now as dan harris reports in a presentation for our series "into the wild." >> reporter: if you want to get a real close-up look at what's known as the ghost of the forest, one of the most rare, beautiful and elusive creatures on earth, the tree kangaroo, you have to climb way, way up into a towering tree. >> then one guy will climb up close to her and they'll make noise so that she'll come down. >> reporter: she'll jump? >> yeah. >> reporter: all the way down? >> she could. they do that in the wild. they have the ability and when

they land they sort of stop for a second. >> reporter: that's when you get them. >> that's when we get them. >> reporter: the tree kangaroo and the man trying to scare her down are so high up that we can barely see them from the ground. >> she's going to try to figure out how to get away. okay. okay. there she goes. >> reporter: she jumps free falls right out of the tree. >> there we go. >> reporter: maybe 100 feet to the ground. >> easy. easy. and she's big. >> reporter: before we tell you how this turns out, here's how we got here. we have choppered into a cloud forest in the mountains of papua new guinea. as we land we can see local villagers hiding waiting to surprise us. if we didn't know they were happy to see us we might be a little worried because people here used to practice cannibalism. after a greeting ceremony, which

includes locals dressed up as tree kangaroos, we head into a forest that looks like a movie set. our guide is lisa dabek who dedicated her life to saving the tree kangaroo. >> just be really careful. there's hoes. >> reporter: she first saw these animals 20 years ago at a zoo in the u.s. >> so i fell in love with them then, plus, they're beautiful and the more i learned about them, the more i just knew that i wanted to help them. >> reporter: is it true that you went eight years without seeing one in the wild? >> yeah. >> reporter: but finally just a few years ago dabek and her team managed to get radio collars on tree roos. >> it's so hard to find them. >> reporter: she's staring right at us. >> yeah. good. she's saying, hi, dan. >> okay, okay. there she goes. >> reporter: that's when the guy up in the tree gets close enough for her to jump.

once she's on the ground, the men rush in to grab her by the tail. >> easy, easy. easy. >> reporter: there's a field veterinarian here to make sure the animal is okay and to check if she has a baby in her pouch. no? okay, good. okay. so now they're going to put her in the burlap bag and she's going to try to get away as much as possible. she's okay. she's okay. >> there she goes. >> all right, good girl. >> reporter: lisa dabek is clearly relieved. as a conservationist forcing out of a tree into a bag runs counter to her every instinct. >> okay, okay. good fellow, hello. >> reporter: she is cute. >> she's beautiful. >> reporter: but she believes the more we know about how these mysterious endangered animals live and eat and breed. >> sorry. >> reporter: -- the easier it will be to protect them here in the wild.

>> the good thing is she's done this before and we know she's been okay. >> reporter: they put on a tiny camera. >> okay. you go. that's great. >> reporter: good girl. >> good girl. we have no idea what they do up top in the canopy so we want to see what plants he eat. >> reporter: papua new guinea is one of the only places on earth where you can see tree kangaroos. not long ago, these villagers we're with used to hunt and eat tree kangaroos but with dabek's help they've set aside huge tracts of land to protect the animals. if these guys were not sitting aside the land what would happen to the tree kangaroos? >> they might be hunted out. >> reporter: out of existence? >> uh-huh, yeah. >> reporter: the next day we go out to look for another tree kangaroo. a few days ago the team fitted the animal with a camera. >> she's definitely here. she's beautiful. >> there she goes.

>> reporter: another free fall. >> big, big, big. big, big, big. >> is she okay? >> yes. >> good girl. okay. >> look at her. >> oh, wait, the camera. >> reporter: the camera with its much anticipated ruiz eye video is gone. >> be careful. >> reporter: it could be anywhere in this vast forest. it's a huge disappointment. the locals start to comb the forest searching under trees where the animal may have been recently. and against all odds they find it. [ cheering ] >> reporter: and so under a tarp in the pounding rain, the team stares rapt as they're allowed for the first time into the private world of the reclusive

animal they've all spent years of their lives trying to understand and protect. the camera belongs to national geographic. they call it their critter cam. lisa dab. k tears up as she watches. she was told this could never be done but now she is witnessing a breakthrough 15 years in the making. >> wow. that was great. >> reporter: for "nightline," this is dan harris in papua new guinea. >> one cute kangaroo. curious animals and a good cause, of course. next up, we have the finalists in the people's contest. be unsettling. but what if there were a different story? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence.

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well, early this summer we announced the finalists in the people's platelist competition to find the country's best local chef. well, tonight we have videos, they made, to show off their sizzling kitchen chops. now we want you to get involved by voting for your favorite. the winner will be the subject of a national platelist future, so get ready to vote. ♪ >> when we moved up here i never made a pie. we started with chocolate chip right off the nestle's toll house bag and we screwed it up. >> i love cooking. america, show me your love. >> do you know why my food is better? because i cook with love. love is what makes the food taste so good. >> a trademark other than the food would be my hats. i'm wearing a different hat

every day. >> if only the world could be a little bit more like desert gallery, what a wonderful world that would be. we have amazing sandwiches and wraps and salads and stuff like that but you know it's all about the desert. >> i'm cajun ron. >> i'm cajun ron. >> i'm cajun ron. >> i'm cajun ron. >> i'm cajun ron. >> i am cajun ron and this is what we're going to do, blacken a gator and we're going to grill that. >> i'm here to catch us dinner. right in my backyard. wait a minute. who am i kidding? i don't catch dinner. i cook dinner. >> western-style breads, taters and beans, chicken fried steaks and cobblers, there's just something about food prepared just like they did in the old west. this is our kitchen right here. and if you look out here in the prairie, this is our restaurant.

>> my nanny and i started cooking together when i was 10 years old this. definitely was a time of family and family gatherings. every meal was an event. >> hello, america. my name is polli mitchell at cafe roye in talladega. >> 42, i took a leap of faith. quit my job with the post office and bought a custom harley-davidson. my wife begged, borrowed and stole to come up with the tuition for the cordon bleu. >> not that much. give it a little zing, okay? i didn't know anything when i was married. i could irbarely make a tuna fish sandwich. now we put this on the chicken. >> salt. the water in it. help keep it tender. >> secret ingredient here at the diner is love and happiness.

love to cook with and happiness that runs from my heart at the same time a few sharp knives and a little bit of that. >> why do i love food and cooking? because it's the passion of my life. i'm a product of my environment. this sustains my love of cooking and challenges me every day. >> i had about five years to live. the doctors gave me so what i decided to do, the passion and the love and what i had about food, i turned it around. i gave it a twist. i took it and made it healthier. i made it fun. i made it exciting and i made it tasty and everybody loves it. >> what do i think i should do? you have to ask my customers that one. >> this is a dish that i created myself, as a matter of fact i think probably last week. >> i think everybody should vote for aj. >> vote for aj. >> to see the full videos of all

18 finalists go to abcnews.com/nightline and vote. i promise you they're fun videos. we'll be right back with tonight's closing argument on the president's new $50 billion idea. did you know go-gurt is specially made to freeze and thaw by lunch time? so kids can have their favorite yogurt in their lunch box go-gurt. freeze it. thaw it. eat it up. ¿qué si usamos tacos más grandes? [ male announcer ] old el paso super stuffers. 33% larger shells. feed your fiesta.

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