Katelynn McGinley
Features Editor
When baby-faced performer Chris Brown was accused of physically assaulting his girlfriend, multi-platinum recording artist, Rihanna, the story stunned millions of fans and made headlines around the world. This incident, while tragic, is unfortunately not only limited to celebrities ? it can happen anywhere, to anyone, even students here at McDaniel College.
Last year at McDaniel College there were at least two reported cases of alleged sexual and physical assault against females, though both females in question eventually declined to press charges. Last month, three McDaniel students (one of them a female alumnus who came to the defense of the alleged victim) were involved in an altercation that took place at a party on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Director of Campus Safety, Mike Webster, assures students that in these kinds of situations that Campus Safety has “a specific protocol it follows, and a pattern of investigation that is extremely thorough” he says that he “does not see domestic violence as a huge problem” at McDaniel. “Campus Safety usually investigates about one or two of these stories a year.” Says Webster.
According to Sarah Hund-Brown, the Community Educator for the Carroll County Rape Crisis Center, alcohol is oftentimes “the number one” drug that facilitates many of the domestic and sexual assaults that the center sees every year.
Lauren Fischetti, ’11, explains that there is a specific facet of RA training called “Behind Closed Doors” that deals with issues pertaining to domestic violence. “The senior RAs role plays a situation for us where a couple is fighting and the girl is maybe like, crying in the corner and unwilling to talk to us.”
The procedure, Fischetti says, is to try and separate the couple and talk to each of them individually to try and determine what happened. “If we think that it’s necessary, we do get Campus Safety involved, and they use their discretion in terms of notifying the Westminster police if an assault can be verified and one of the parties wants to press charges.”
Fischetti admits that as a female authority figure on campus, that she will occasionally catch flack from male students.
“I’ve been called a bitch a lot,” Fischetti admits. “Or I have guys who think if they flirt with me I won’t write them up for being loud or having alcohol or whatever. Stuff like that.”
Hund-Brown discloses that many of the women that come to the center are in their late twenties and upwards, and points out that sexual and domestic violence is not limited to females alone. “Men are even more reluctant to talk about being victimized, and they carry a higher level of self-blame and guilt concerning the attack.”
If you or anyone you know has been the victim of domestic or sexual assault, there are people you can talk to.
The on-campus extension for the Counseling Center is 2243, and free counseling is available to all students.
The Carroll County Rape Crisis Center’s is open from 9:00 am ? 5:00 pm Monday through Friday, or you can call their 24 hour hotline at 410-857-7322.