Georgetown students are passionate about helping, but they cannot not help if they are left in the dark. Almost a month after Kevin Bowles (CAS ‘09) was harassed, no one has officially stepped up to help him. It is appalling that so many weeks have passed without a response from the administration.
The cruel epithets of “fag” and “cock-sucker” directed at Kevin early on the morning of Sept. 11 are not the worst part of the story, however.
Bowles has run into dead ends along all the traditional avenues of support.
Bowles’ first step was to file a report with the Department of Public Safety, who just followed up with him this past week. Next, he met with Bill McCoy, assistant director for student organizations and LGBTQ, whom Bowles said politely cautioned him about the risks of initiating anything, worrying that Bowles would only burn out trying to make a change. McCoy directed him to GU Pride.
But after repeatedly e-mailing the heads of GU Pride, Bowles claimed he received only one response. It informed him that they would discuss his problem at their board meeting that night and then get back to him, thought they never did, even when he wrote them another email asking them what they had decided.
“Everyone I talked to let the ball drop,” he said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. He said he felt no bitterness about the University’s lack of a response, only disillusionment.
GU Pride President Monica Escobar blamed the delayed response on a simple miscommunication.
The Georgetown community publicly advocates tolerance, but Bowles said no one except a few close friends have even validated his own feelings of violation. It has made him wonder if he is blowing the incident out of proportion.
“Everyone makes a token effort, but that’s all it is,” Jane Kim, co-chair of Leaders Educating About Diversity, said. “All they want is something to point to, to say, ‘Look, we’re diverse.’” LEAD is a student group that was born of Provost-office funding and is now sustained by CMEA, the Continuing Minority Education Association.
“When you see what is happening to Kevin, you realize that only one out of hundreds of steps is ever taken,” Kim said.
Bowles originally considered transferring, but instead he has chosen a different path. He has publicized his story, joined the Diversity Action Council and is organizing a candle-light vigil for later this fall.
It is not too late for Georgetown to support Bowles in these admirable efforts to see beyond his personal pain and do something productive.
