If you’ve been anywhere near social media lately, you know that Belmont students have been growing more than a little irritable with the department of communication. Today, that feeling of irritability became one of outrage, as many students only this afternoon learned about the raping of a student that took place less than a half a mile from campus just earlier this month. You can find the full story here.
Jason Saitta (’19) quite accurately summed up the student body’s anger with his post on Facebook earlier today:
“So we get an email telling us we can’t put signs in our windows, and we get emails telling us about the groundbreaking ceremony for a building no one cares about 2 hours before it happens, but not once do we get an email about a student who raped someone not even half a mile from campus. You think signs are a threat to safety and security Belmont? How about taking legitimate threats to the safety of your student body into account first?…I can guarantee you that this is probably the first time most of us are hearing about this. I just saw it today because another student shared it. Where is the prioritization of student information? We have a right to know about threats like these and how they affect us and our campus. But hey, at least we know the exact times that blasting will be happening for the next month! “
We want to believe that the administration has the best intentions at heart for their students. Above all, we want to believe they are doing everything in their power to keep us safe. And yet, when a horrendous event involving two of its student occurred not even a mile from campus, Belmont students were left uninformed. Said Parker Anderson (‘ 19)
“They may have wanted to keep it on the hush hush to prevent a PR scandal but instead of just releasing a statement or even admitting they knew about it, they’ve kept it from us and now we obviously feel uninformed and untrustful of our school.”
when approached by the press earlier today, Associate Provost and Dean of Students Dr. Jeffery Burgin had this to say:
“I cannot emphasize enough that Belmont continues its deep commitment to student safety and success. Any violations of the University’s Community Commitments — especially as it relates to potential sexual assaults — are thoroughly investigated and quickly addressed.”
And yet, despite Belmont’s “deep commitment to student safety and success” students were left in the dark. The occurrence of a rape on or near a college campus today is not uncommon. Not informing a student body of such an occurrence, however, is not only uncommon but also unacceptable.
This wasn’t the first time Belmont chose to hide an act of sexual assault on campus either. Back in 2008, after a man was able to rape a female student by gaining access to Bruin Hills ( due to poor maintenance of security equipment), students received an email that intentionally “misrepresented the nature and extent of the incident so as to minimize the perception of harm and/or danger to its students.” Further details on the story can be found here.
No statement has been released in response to the student backlash at this point in time. Whether or not the administration chooses to respond though is irrelevant, as not much could be said to justify the actions of the school. What matters from here on out though, is that these choices will not be tolerated by the student body. Belmont, this cannot happen again.
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