Adam Ritz, a radio and TV personality, had students laughing throughout his social media and alcohol awareness presentation Wednesday when things took a dramatic turn: Ritz admitted to being convicted for sexual battery.
Sigma Nu and Epsilon Sigma Alpha presented Ritz, who has traveled the country speaking to college students and professional athletes with his performance “No One is Invincible”.
After projecting headlines of current events dealing with social media and college student behavior, Ritz showed a headline with his own name.
“The Indianapolis Star is reporting that radio DJ Adam Ritz has been convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery,” the screen read.
Ritz explained he was convicted of a sexual battery charge 12 years ago when he “victimized a friend.”
“I never once thought I would ever be that guy that would be drunk enough to hurt a friend of mine, to think something was consensual when it wasn’t, and to end up through broadcasted social media having humiliated conversations with my daughters,” Ritz said.
Dan Larson, Sigma Nu member and event organizer, first saw Ritz’ presentation at a national fraternity conference last January and said he contacted Ritz immediately about bringing the show to Bradley.
“I knew what was going to happen in the presentation, but I think I was the only one in the room,” Larson said. “I looked over to my friend and was like, ‘Did you see that coming?’ and he said, ‘No way.'”
Larson said he thinks the performance was important because many of his peers take life for granted.
“I think every college student should see this and know that anything can happen at any time if you make that one wrong choice,” Larson said.
Junior nursing major Hannah Mayfield said she was shocked to learn about Ritz’ conviction.
“It was an eye-opener to hear such a personal story,” Mayfield said.
Ritz concluded by saying the message of the night was to make decisions that “don’t change lives.”
“You don’t know what the guy is going to look like that can hurt you,” Ritz said. “You also have no idea how the night’s going to go; no one plans on this … Anybody at two in the morning with enough alcohol can make a decision that can change lives forever.”
