By Sam Haberland
March 7, 2016
Two weeks ago the Edgewood judicial board ruled in favor of the alleged attacker in a sexual assault case that happened last fall. The ruling sparked strong reaction from the student body and administrators alike.
On the Edge News shed light on some details of the alleged assault in an article posted the day after the protest. The alleged assault took place off campus among two Edgewood students who knew each other. Further details will follow as OTE NEWS continues its coverage of the situation.
Some students on campus are concerned about their own safety in light of the recent news. Fallon Zimmerman, a freshman on campus, said that the increasingly common emails talking about recent sexual assaults scare her. “My mom forbids me to walk alone if I leave campus” she said, “so I don’t go anywhere.”
Other students felt no fear and thought that the protest and the willingness of a group of students to stand up was inspired. Many students claim they partook in the protest to show that the ruling of the judicial board was unfair, and that the student body is willing to rally behind this one student’s case.
Tara Lang, a student on campus, said that she participated in the protest “as a way to spread awareness that there actually is an issue, and it isn’t being addressed properly.”
Junior Annemarie Hitch said that the protest showed Edgewood officials that students would not, and will not, stand for a perpetrator, and that they all stand for the victim. “No student at Edgewood or any other university should have to deal with this trauma,” Hitch said.
In an email to the student body, school President Scott Flanagan said, “Sexual misconduct has no place at Edgewood College.” In another email the following day he continued, “Over the next few weeks, I will convene a task force to review this policy, including the judicial process through which it is enacted, and to recommend changes if/as needed. That task force will have representation from faculty, staff, and students as well as the perspective of one or more individuals experienced in this area and not affiliated with the College.”
Flanagan urges students to join the ongoing discussion of change this Monday at 4 PM at a Student Government meeting in Predolin 115B.
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