Student accused of multiple
sexual-violence code violations
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Student accused of multiple
sexual-violence code violations
Brian Voerding
Editor-in-Chief
With reporting by Matt Lutz
After a Hamline student was accused of two violations of the Hamline Sexual Violence Policy and an additional violation of the Judicial Code, he was barred from campus, allowed to return for five days, then barred again until his hearing nine days later.
Interim Dean of Students Sherri Crahen detailed the three incident reports in a charge letter obtained by the Oracle.
The first violation involved an incident last fall, the letter said, where the suspect allegedly touched a Heights resident’s breasts and vagina without consent.
According to the letter, the second violation happened on the morning of Saturday, April 17, when a second Heights resident said that the suspect grabbed her in a Heights hallway and pushed her backwards into a fire extinguisher box, causing the glass to break. When she entered her room, she said, the suspect followed, making sexual advances. He then picked her up off the floor and dropped her into a bed, causing her to bruise her arm.
Four hours later, according to the letter, the suspect violated the judicial code when he entered a women’s bathroom in the Heights and blocked CLA senior Carrie Neve when she attempted to leave.
Neve told the Oracle that she called the hall director on duty because she felt unsafe after the incident. Residential Life director Patti Klein came to campus, Neve said, and made the decision to bar the suspect from campus until Monday morning, and that he was to have no contact with any of the women accusing him.
However, on the following Monday, the second resident said that the suspect entered her room, and she notified Klein. At that point, she and Neve said, Crahen made the decision to move the suspect to a different dorm.
Neve said she was concerned with the decision, because the suspect still had full access to the Heights. She met with Crahen that Tuesday to discuss alternative options, but Crahen refused to alter her decision.
The following morning, Wednesday, the second resident met with Klein and decided to report her incident to the police. She filed the report with Klein, and she and Neve gave statements to the St. Paul police later that afternoon. As of Sunday, no criminal charges have been filed against the suspect.
On Thursday afternoon, Neve said, the suspect was given a charge letter detailing the three incidents, and told that he would once again be barred from campus Friday at 10 p.m. until his hearing
At the time of the notice, he had been living in the dorms since Monday.
The hearing took place on Wednesday, April 26, nine days after the first incident reports. Although Neve and the second resident were unable to discuss the results of the hearing, they both said that they are appealing the decision.
Neve said that administration and Res Life’s handling of the situation was extremely upsetting. Their decision to move the suspect to a dorm where he still had full access to the women who filed complaints against him was unsafe, she said.
Neve also expressed dismay at the administration’s choice to withhold the suspect’s name from students. She was not allowed to give the suspect’s name to other RAs or residents in the dorm where the incidents took place, she said.
“I was told that it would create a ‘culture of fear’ in the dorms,” she said.
Neither Residential Life Director Klein or Interim Dean of Students Crahen were willing to comment on the specific case; however, they were willing to answer questions about policies and procedures.
On whether or where students are moved, Crahen said, “I make the decision. It is my responsibility to assess a situation that I believe is in the best interests of both students.”
And on the question of naming a suspect, Klein said. “If the community is at risk by withholding names, we will disclose them,” said Klein. “Risk” is defined by the university, she said.
Editor’s note: Updates concerning this article will become available right here as they happen.
Updated last: May 10, 2004 at 12:24 am