Lakehead University president Brian Stevenson is deeply disturbed.
And well he should be, if sexual assault allegations made by a student – and the school’s seeming unwillingness to help her cope with the situation – are true.
The student, in a letter to the editor published in the Chronicle-Journal last Saturday, says she asked the school to let her know if her alleged attacker was in any of her classes.
The woman, who has not gone to police, said she just wanted to avoid the man and have little or no interaction with him and his friends.
Instead, she says, she was given the runaround, told the school could not reveal personal information about another student.
Privacy rules are in place for good reason. But institutions – and the very human people who run them – must be able to use their own judgment when extreme situations warrant.
All this woman wanted was not to be in class with the man she says raped her in his home.
She was willing to rearrange her own schedule to accomplish it. The other student never would have known. Instead she says she was advised to use security patrols to take her to and from class.
Lakehead, you`re better than this. You may be the No. 1 undergraduate research school in Ontario, but it`s time you had policy and procedure in place to deal with victims like this.
