Letters To The Editor...

Dear Editor:

In light of last week’s sexual assault I have a few com- ments: When we need a new chief of security, and some people feel that may be soon, perhaps the administration should consider hiring a female chief. Women obviously feel they have trouble communicating with the present campus security (and who wouldn’t, judging by the communication skills Chief Macleod demonstrated at the information session?), so let’s get someone who can do the job. If a male gets raped on campus, there will still be an abundance of male security people he could talk to and feel comfortable with. And if the new chief is a woman, that would be, what, one or two females on the security staff?

All that needs to be done is change the pool of applicants for the job of chief from one half female to all women. If it is impossible to find a female law enforcement officer in this country to fulfill the qualifications for the chief of campus security then simply change the qualifications. At the risk of being sexist, perhaps what the job requires in the 90’s is a bit more female sensitivity to problems on campus. If the new chief possessed communication skills that would be employed in active dialogue with the student body it could only help.

Carl Arnold

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The alleged assault that occurred at Marion Hall on Septem- ber 23, 1992 was very regrettable but even more regrettable were the actions or lack thereof of four different groups during and after the time of the alleged assault.

These four groups are:

1. The students attending the Marion Hall party that night. 2. The security guards on duty at the time the alleged assault occurred.

3. The Student Union

4. The President of the University Dr. C.J.(Willie) Eliot.

I find it difficult to believe with the number of people at the party in the hundreds that no one present saw or heard anything that might raise alarm. I find it more probable to believe that the amount of alcohol consumed by the majority of people at the party had blinded them to these warning signs or cries for help. The fact is that at social events such as these, students should be looking out for one another and have enough judgement to know when to intervene on behalf of other students. From the time the victim was allegedly taken, tied up, had her eyes taped, and was assaulted, there should have been sufficient time for someone to see some- thing and to report it.

The security guards in Marion Hall that night should have also been able to see something. It is probable that the events leading up to the alleged assault and the assault itself took over 20 to 30 minutes. According to the UPEI Public Relations Dept there were 8-10 security personnel on duty that night. If this is true, where were those 10 pairs of eyes during that 20 to 30 minutes? I shudder to think of many things that could have happened in a much shorter period of time and been just as serious what allegedly happened Sept. 23. For example, someone who was suffi- ciently intoxicated could have headed to the roof and after losing their source ofreason - and jumped. This would have taken only 4-5 minutes to occur. Security forces are respon- sible for the safety of students. They have obviously failed us in this incident. The student Union has also failed us throughout the aftermath of this incident. It took the Student Union until Wednesday, Sept. 30 to make as statement, when President Tracey Arsenault admitted on Compass that she was aware of the incident days prior. Also this writer went to Miss Arsenault on Tues. Sept. 29 and asked what could the Student Union do with regard to the incident at Marion Hall. Then again on the program Compass, Miss Arsenault stated that no one had come to her to express concern over this incident. This, she said, was the reason the Union had not acted sooner. This I find to be untrue. I also find the lapse of two days very excessive between the time Miss Arsenault knew of the alleged incident and the time that the Student Union made a public statement. The fact is that as soon as Miss Arsenault heard even a rumour ofa serious

UPEI X-P RESS

October 8, 1992

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