Colleges struggle to stem the tide of sexual misconduct on campus

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Amber Calabro arrived at Fenwicks Bar & Grill, a popular pub in central Riverdale, with a few friends after midnight one Friday in August. Settling at a spot near the doorway, the Manhattan College senior noticed a student she had met while working as a moving volunteer the day before classes began this fall. 

When she said hello to him, she was baffled by his response. “‘Do you want to go back to my room?’” Ms. Calabro, 21, recalled the sophomore saying after she greeted him. “That was when he pulled my hand and pushed it onto his genital area.” 

After returning to her dorm later that morning, she texted her friends and a residence assistant she knew to discuss how to address the incident. At around 1:30 a.m., the RA arrived.

“He came by and he had his notebook already ready to go. He told me that, ‘If you tell me anything sexual right now, it has to be reported’,” Ms. Calabro said.

Soon after, public safety officials arrived along with the director of residence life to hear her story. The public safety officers sent Ms. Calabro multiple e-mails and voicemails hours after the incident. They requested an official statement the next day. 

In the meantime, school authorities issued a no-contact order that prohibited Ms. Calabro and the accused from communicating with each other.

 The investigation process overwhelmed Ms. Calabro before it began.  

“It was just a lot to do the same day that this had happened,” she said. “I was trying to emotionally process this and I had to deal with all of this stuff. It almost made me regret reporting it altogether.”

She eventually e-mailed her statement to school officials that night. She told administrators that she did not want the accused person to be punished severely for a “minor incident” that “wasn’t rape or anything intense.” She reported it, she said, to prevent a recurrence or a more aggressive sexual act by the accused.

A little over a month later, she has yet to hear from university officials about where the case stands, though it typically takes schools 60 days to resolve reports of sexual misconduct.

Tanisia Morris, College Campuses, Public Safety, Title IX, Misconduct, Sexual Assault, Public Safety, Manhattan College, College of Mount Saint Vincent
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