On Saturday, Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson sent an email notifying the Georgetown community of the recent defacement of the Blessed Mother statue on Copley lawn—the third act of vandalism perpetrated against a campus statue since February 22. Olson called the incidents “troubling” and vowed to take the matter “very seriously,” proposing immediate increases in DPS patrols in the area. A group of students held an all-night vigil for the defaced statue.
On March 18th, an unidentified man broke into a house on Prospect Street and lay on the couch next to a sleeping female student, causing her to wake up suddenly before leaving. The break-in was the latest in a string of at least 14 incidents attributed to the “Cuddler.” Yet the Georgetown administration has made no public statement about these incidents beyond Public Safety Alerts. By displaying a decidedly nonchalant attitude towards the “Cuddler” offenses, the administration is sending a disturbing message to students—that it gives higher priority to breaking up parties or preventing further vandalism of campus statues than it does to the safety of its students.
The severe lack of communication on the part of the University is disconcerting. To gain the trust of students, DPS should provide the Georgetown community with regular updates on its progress in tracking down the “Cuddler,” as much as DPS’ protocols regarding release of information about an ongoing investigation will allow. If these offenses continue, DPS must issue Public Safety Alerts that clearly indicate in the subject line that the offense may be connected to the “Cuddler” crime spree, to guarantee that students do not dismiss the Alerts as ambiguous “burglaries” without reading them.
Of course, Georgetown students are also responsible for taking this threat—and all threats to their safety—seriously by remaining vigilant and securing all doors and windows at night. Since the much-delayed Rape Aggression Defense System training program will only train 30 students as part of its pilot next fall, DPS can help students defend themselves by sending out e-mails and distributing posters outlining basic self-defense techniques. Georgetown’s administration has vowed to stop at nothing to protect our school’s statues. Now it’s time for the University to show the same concern for its students.
Way to blatantly rip off The Hoya’s research for an editorial.
This editorial addresses a totally different issue than the Hoya’s editorial did. This is about the difference in coverage between the Cuddler offenses and the vandalism. I think they want the administration to deal with the Cuddler offenses more seriously. Yes, this is about communication between DPS and the student body, but it in no way deals with the difference between the crime logs and the PSAs, like the Hoya’s research did.