by Michelle Thornton
Staff Writer
An uninvited male who entered a former Brandt resident’s room on Sept. 2 and verbally sexually harassed the female resident, has yet to be identified.
The female student, whose name is being withheld, was not physically hurt by the man but was shaken by his uninvited entrance and the lewd sexual comments he directed at her.
John Lentz, director of campus safety and transportation, and residence hall Area Coordinator Chris Freeman both confirmed that after the incident the female student returned her keys to her resident assistant, sophomore Robin Moore, and moved back home.
The man is described as a Caucasian male, between 5’9″ and 5’10” with a slender build. He was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, hat and sunglasses. It has not been determined whether he is a University of La Verne student.
According to Lentz, the uninvited individual came to the harassed student’s room looking for her roommate. When the student replied that she was not in, the individual stayed to have a conversation at which time he made the lewd comments.
Freeman said that when he called to discuss the problem with the former resident, he found that there was more to the story. He declined to elaborate further on the issue for confidential reasons.
Neither Campus Safety nor the La Verne Police Department were notified officially of the incident.
A flyer was sent out by the Office of Housing and Residential Life last Friday to notify residents and to instruct them on how to “take all necessary precautions to preserve your safety,” according to the flyer.
Though the incident occurred Sept. 2, the flyer was not circulated until Sept. 12, raising questions of the reason for the delay.
Julie Thurman, area coordinator for the Oaks, said the flyer was delayed because it was up to the female student to contact Housing after the incident. Although the student moved off campus soon after the incident, Housing was not given details of the problem right away.
“Nobody has been talking about it. I didn’t even get the flyer. I read it off my RA’s board,” said Erika Gonzalez, a freshman living on the third floor of Brandt.
Lentz said that it Campus Safety had been contacted initially, they could have taken more effective action.
“We would have responded, determined whether a crime had been committed, made a report and notified the LVPD. After the reports had been filed, we would try to identify the individual, and take action from there,” said Lentz.
Cherrie Kim, a freshman resident in Brandt said, “Some people were saying that nothing happened; that the person was faking it, but after that, I saw cops walking through the halls when I got out of the shower, so something must have happened.”
In an intense situation like this, Lentz says Campus Safety should be contacted first and the resident assistants second.
Some residents did not feel they were properly informed of the problem.
Gonzalez’s roommate, freshman Nune Gazdahyan, said, “We should have had a meeting with our RA, a group discussion. I know that everyone and their mother can get and does get into these halls. We need to make dealing with this a group effort.”
