Sitting and reflecting on my time at Wash. U., I’ve drawn a blank on what to write about here. I could fill this entire issue reflecting on and critiquing University policy, the administration and campus affairs, but that would give off the wrong impression about how much I’ve enjoyed my time here. Just as easily, I could fill this space with nostalgic reminiscing about my college career, attempting to illustrate some broad, esoteric lesson explaining the meaning of college. Instead, I’m going to set my sights on a message slightly more earthy: have fun.

After four years of writing for Student Life, it’s hard to believe that this is my last contribution to the paper. I’ve covered a nationally televised debate, bubble wrap covering Bowles Plaza and everything in between. I’ve interviewed students, faculty and staff on countless subjects and spent more sleepless nights than I’d care to admit on the third floor of the Danforth Center pushing to finish the paper before deadline. Student Life has defined my college experience, offering me a support system, great friendships and amazing memories. Most of all, Student Life has been a space to be myself and to enjoy.

Whether you will be on campus next year or off in the “real world” somewhere, I hope you can find that space for yourself. Be it a campus organization, a job, community service or something else, find a place where you can have fun and be accepted. There is a lot to be seen in the world and lots to accomplish, but the best things will follow from simply stepping back and having fun.

This is certainly not the most profound advice in the world, but it is important and worth sharing.

To my family and friends who have kept me sane throughout the last four years, I say thank you. For the runs in Forest Park, for listening to my crazy ideas or for just taking my phone calls whenever I’ve needed to talk, I am more appreciative than you could ever know.

To all the Student Life staff members who will be here next year, good luck: treasure every story and every late night (Kate and Josh, I’m looking at you). Every issue, you will have the opportunity to meet amazing people from every part of campus—take advantage of that, and you will have an amazing time.

To the rest of the University community: thank you for everything that you have allowed me to experience. The students, faculty and staff here give the University its character and have created an incredibly special atmosphere that I am glad to have taken part in.

Whether you are graduating this month or whether you will be here next year, live and enjoy, you have great opportunities ahead of you.

Sam can be reached via e-mail at sam.guzik@gmail.com.

According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the victim was walking south on Skinker Boulevard near Northwood Avenue around 12:30 a.m. on Monday when an unknown suspect overtook her from behind.

The assailant, who was not known to the student, forced her between two buildings and raped her. During the incident, the attacker indicated that he had a knife but did not display it.

After the rape, the suspect took money from the victim and fled the scene. Because the attack occurred off-campus, the investigation is in the jurisdiction of St. Louis Metropolitan Police, not Washington University Police.

The victim was treated at a local hospital and, according to Associate Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Steve Givens, released Monday afternoon.

“Obviously we’re very concerned about her and helping her get through this situation, so we’ve reached out to her and her family,” Givens said. “Her family is now here, and she’s released from the hospital and doing well. That’s a relief, but obviously we’ve offered her counseling or whatever she needs to help get her life back.”

On Monday morning, the University notified the campus community of the incident through a campus-wide e-mail and crime alert.

The decision to release alerts is made on a case-by-case basis; according to Steve Hoffner, associate vice chancellor for operations, the University issued an alert in this situation because “it involved a student and did occur in an area where we have a lot of University people living, both students and faculty,” so there was concern because the suspect remained at large.

Although the University’s e-mail to students described the incident as a sexual assault, a Metropolitan Police release specifically characterized the incident as a rape, a particular type of sexual assault. As of this writing, police had not released any information about the crime beyond a description of the suspect and basic details of the victim’s report.

In the past, the DeMun neighborhood had not been associated with the same volume of crime reported north of campus, leading many students to believe that it is a safer neighborhood.

“Generally, [DeMun] seems really safe,” said Judson Kempton, a sophomore who lives in the area. “I wouldn’t expect that sort of thing to happen.”

Police described the suspect as a black male between 18 and 25 years of age, approximately 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches in height and weighing between 130 and 140 pounds. At the time of the assault, the suspect was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt over a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and white gloves.

Police request that any person with information relevant to the incident contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-371-8477.

Click here for additional coverage of the incident

This story differs from the print edition in the following way:
Due to a production error, two paragraphs were inadvertently omitted from this story. This version includes those two paragraphs.

Following the rape and robbery of a female undergraduate leaving campus, the University has expanded its door-to-door shuttle service for students living in off-campus housing.

Known as Campus2Home (C2H), the shuttle’s vans leave from Mallinckrodt Center and Brookings Drive every half-hour and take students directly to their residences off-campus rather than operating along a fixed route.

The University’s decision to expand the shuttle service was overshadowed on Monday by some students’ concerns that a reference to the Campus2Home program in the e-mail with the crime alert created the impression that the student raped early Monday morning was partially at fault for the attack.

Although the decision to expand Campus2Home was made at the same time that the University chose to send out a campus-wide alert, that e-mail did not include a reference to the expanded service.

Steve Givens, associate vice chancellor for public affairs, acknowledged that the decision to promote Campus2Home without mentioning the expansion was “a mistake,” but the additional coverage remains an important service to students.

“We included in the crime alert that Campus2Home was available; what we didn’t do is include that there was an expansion,” Givens said. “In the rush to get that statement out, it could have been worded better.”

Junior Danielle Wallis, co-president of the Committee Organized for Rape Education, stressed that references to the shuttle should not overwhelm the fact that the incident occurred because of choices made by the attacker, not the victim—a reality often overshadowed in mainstream understandings of sexual assault.

“It’s less an issue about how the crime alert was worded and more about how we read it,” she said. “There’s nothing blameful about what she did,” Wallis said.

Previously, the Campus2Home program was available only to students, faculty and staff living in neighborhoods north of campus—specifically University City and Skinker-DeBaliviere.

On Monday evening, shuttles began to serve neighborhoods south of campus, particularly the DeMun area where the assault occurred. The additional service is in direct response to that incident.

“We had a very tragic event,” Givens said, and that provided an impetus to reconsider how best to serve the needs of students.

“Something like this happens, and it’s good to reflect,” he said.

Campus2Home service is now available in the area between Forsyth Boulevard and Clayton Road, from Skinker to Big Bend, in addition to the neighborhoods north of campus that were previously available. In addition, after the robbery of two undergraduate students Wednesday morning on the Greenway Walkway just north of the campus overpass, the shuttle hours were extended from 7 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. seven days a week.

When the service first began in February, the University chose to focus its efforts on neighborhoods north of campus because of the concentration of students and University-owned off-campus property in the area.

Until now, the service has remained relatively unknown, operating far below its capacity. According to Steve Hoffner, associate vice chancellor for operations, approximately 20 students use the service each night and use has been approximately evenly divided between graduate and undergraduate students.

The service has the potential to serve up to 192 riders throughout each night—two 12 passenger vans make a total of 16 trips.

“[Ridership] is good, but we have capacity for lots more than that,” Givens said. “It’s great for students to learn that this is available and make use of it whether they are going north or south.”

Late Monday evening, the first night of expanded service, 43 individuals rode the shuttle, none traveling to the newly served area south of campus.

According to Hoffner, the yearly operating cost of the shuttle is $230,000, but even if ridership continues to lag behind capacity, the program will continue.

“My personal opinion is that now that we’ve started this program it’s going to be staying,” Hoffner said. “I don’t foresee at all that this won’t be available next fall.”

The service is scheduled to continue throughout the summer, though the University is currently conducting surveys that will determine whether a new set of summer hours will be developed.

Updated — Includes additional information released by St. Louis Police on Monday afternoon, comment from a Washington University spokesman and new information about the Campus2Home shuttle.

A female undergraduate was raped and robbed by an unknown suspect on Monday morning around 12:30 a.m., according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

The student was walking home on Skinker Boulevard near the 6200 block of Northwood Avenue when she walked by an individual approaching from the opposite direction. According to the University, the suspect approached the student from behind and forced her behind a nearby building where he sexually assaulted her. The suspect indicated he had a knife but did not display a weapon.

After the assault, the suspect took money from the victim and fled the scene. St. Louis police are investigating the rape, but did not release any information about the crime beyond an updated description of the suspect and basic details of the incident.

The victim was treated at a local hospital and, according to Associate Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Steve Givens, released Monday afternoon.

“Obviously we’re very concerned about her and helping her get through this situation, so we’ve reached out to her and her family,” Givens said. “Her family is now here and she’s released from the hospital and doing well. That’s a relief, but obviously we’ve offered her counseling or whatever she needs to help get her life back.”

The assault comes several months after the University announced its Campus2Home shuttle service, which provides door-to-door service from campus to off-campus residences in neighborhoods surrounding the Danforth Campus. The shuttle service is available seven days a week between 7 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.

As a result of the attack, students will now be able to take the shuttle to neighborhoods south of campus—including the neighborhood in which the incident occurred.

Initially, the program was intended to serve students, faculty and staff living north of Forest Park Parkway in University City and the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood.

“We didn’t have a lot of students in the south” when the program began, Givens said. “Beginning tonight were going to open up the shuttle service to anyone who lives in that area.”

The shuttle leaves from the Mallinckrodt Center and the Brookings Drive every half hour and drives students to their final destination rather than following a set route.

Police described the suspect as a black male between 18 and 25 years of age, approximately 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches in height and weighing between 130 and 140 pounds. At the time of the assault, the suspect was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt over a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans and white gloves.

Police request that any person with information relevant to the incident contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-371-8477.

With additional reporting by Michelle Merlin

This is the original breaking news update for this story. For the final version that ran in print, click here

“It was a fire in a microwave oven. I think they’re still investigating, what I’m hearing is there was some kind of electrical fire, but it was not like an intentional fire set or anything like that,” said Don Strom, Chief of the Washington University Police Department.

Students in the building were evacuated immediately and there were no injuries.

Strom said that a police officer put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.

According to Paul Mercurio, assistant chief at Clayton Fire Department, the fire was already extinguished when firefighters arrived but that there was still ‘quite a bit of smoke there.’

The firefighters on the scene worked to clear the smoke from the second floor of the dormitory.

Mercurio said that the microwave’s wooden stand also ignited from the heat of the microwave.

It is unclear what caused the microwave to catch fire.

“We did not find anything in the microwave. Nothing was burned in the food compartment of the seciont,” Mercurio said. “It didnt’ look like anyone had neglected food that they were cooking.”

The damages to the building are not yet known.

According to students at the scene, at least three fire trucks responded to the fire; an unknown number of ambulances were on the scene. A Student Life staff member who approached the dormitory was stopped about 25 feet away from the building by a police officer because of the fire. All firefighters have since left the scene.

This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for more information.

According to the Washington University Police Department, a female student reported the alleged assault to police on Nov. 10. The victim reported being sexually assaulted by an acquaintance in September.

Upon coming forward, the victim wanted to press charges against her alleged attacker, but the prosecutor’s office chose not to proceed with the case.

The prosecutor’s office did not return several phone messages from Student Life asking for comment on Thursday and Friday.

According to information released by police in November, the accused perpetrator was a student at another St. Louis university. As a result of the decision of the prosecutor’s office, no criminal action will be taken against that individual.

The alleged assault took place on Sept. 29 in the victim’s room in a South 40 residence hall.

In November, University police made an arrest based on the victim’s report and conducted an investigation. The results were presented to the prosecutor’s office over winter break.

Police did not release the suspect’s name in November because charges were not formally registered. The suspect’s name is not available now because no indictment was filed.

The prosecutor’s decision removes the potential for recourse through the criminal justice system, though the victim could choose to go through the civil court system.

The reported assault comes amid continued discussion of the importance of creating an administrative position to coordinate campus services for the victims of sexual assault. Last semester, a hiring committee interviewed several candidates for the job, but the position has not yet been filled.

The alleged assault took place on Sept. 29 in the victim’s room in a South 40 residence hall and was reported to the police on Tuesday.

According to information released by police, the suspect—who was arrested on Wednesday and is awaiting the filing of formal charges—is a student at another St. Louis university and, although unaffiliated with Washington University, was known by the victim.

Washington University police made an arrest based on the victim’s report and a subsequent investigation.

Police would not release the suspect’s name because the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office is reviewing the charges to evaluate whether to proceed with the case.

According to Washington University Police Chief Don Strom, no update is expected on the case’s status until late next week at the earliest.

Although the suspect is not currently being held on charges of sexual assault, there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest because of an earlier traffic violation.

Because no identifying information was available about the suspect, Student Life could not immediately determine whether the suspect had made bail on the traffic violation or whether the suspect remained in custody on that charge.

Idan Raichel, an Israeli musican, performed in the 560 Building last night, along with five other artists from The Idan Raichel Project. Washington University Student for Israel brought the group, which drew a crowd of nearly 750 for a multicultural concert. (Sam Guzik | Student Life)

The committee of faculty and students tasked with finding a candidate to fill the new post has scheduled two interviews for next month, despite already recommending a candidate based on three interviews earlier in the semester.

Members of the hiring committee submitted a letter to Alan Glass, the director of Student Health Services and the official directly responsible for the new position, last month after bringing three candidates to campus.

Glass would not comment on specific details of the hiring process, including why no one was hired or whether the candidates who previously visited campus remained in consideration in the ongoing search. However, he underscored the importance of finding a candidate capable of meeting the needs of stakeholders throughout the University.

“I’m very committed to finding as close to perfect a fit for this critical position,” Glass said. “Until we can find a person who at least comes close to that—in all of our opinions—my intention is to leave the search open.”

Members of the hiring committee—who were selected from the chancellor-appointed Advisory Committee on Sexual Violence and Prevention (ACSVP)—referred all questions about the process and the candidates to Glass.

Although losses in the University’s endowment have forced cost-cutting measures in many departments, school officials, including Chancellor Mark
Wrighton and Vice Chancellor for Students James McLeod, have consistently expressed a commitment to the position, and by all accounts financial concerns will not impact the position in the near future.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into the development and financing of this position,” Glass said. “I’m dedicated to it moving forward, so it’s not going to dry up because money is not as free as it was a few years ago.”

Facilitating collaboration

Formally, the position will be known as the assistant director for sexual assault and community health services. When a candidate is hired, he or she will join the staff of the Habif Health and Wellness Center and will report directly to Glass.

The new position will be responsible for coordinating the University’s sexual assault prevention, education and survivor support efforts and will offer guidance to the student groups that currently deal with this issue on campus.

Because there are three different student organizations dealing with issues of sexual violence, each with a slightly different focus, there is a need for a centralized guiding presence, said senior Christopher Chesley, the co-president of Men Organized for Rape Education (MORE).

The new office will help groups “have a more effective and powerful foothold on campus” and will raise the profile of sexual assault on campus, Chesley said.

Leaders of each of the student groups involved with this issue stressed that having an institutional presence focused solely on the problem of sexual violence would open the door to more resources, greater visibility and increased stability as student leaders transition in and out of leadership positions.

“We love the work that we do, but we are limited by our resources,” said junior Maria Santos, president of the Committee Organized for Rape Education (CORE). Although the movement of students is divided into several smaller groups, Santos stressed that a University-wide staff position would help bring attention to the fact that “we are a larger group and a larger constituency that is interested in fighting sexual assault on campus.”

A long history

The first conversations about the position in the 1980s grew out of a recognition that despite a strong commitment to sexual assault prevention and education among students, faculty and staff, the University’s resources lacked the visible presence to make them easily accessible.

Initially, the University’s support network was pieced together gradually through the commitment of members of the University community.

According to Karen Levin Coburn, a now-retired staff member who served as the University’s women’s crisis counselor and the chair of the Committee on Sexual Assault (COSA) for many years, survivors of sexual violence and those in need of support were often referred to her informally by faculty members and RAs.

“There was a lot of collaboration going on on campus, but it was still not organized in any way,” Coburn said.

Over the years, efforts to prevent sexual and relationship violence grew because of initiatives led by students, faculty and staff, and many of those have remained until today. In addition to the three student groups that focus on survivor support and education, “The Date,” a required presentation during freshman orientation, began because of student lobbying and is still a student-run event.

COSA, which was replaced last year by ACSVP, submitted a yearly recommendation to then-Chancellor William Danforth highlighting the need for a staff position focused on coordinating all of the efforts under way on campus.

“Generally, my thought was that rather than have lots of specialists, that they were problems and issues for the whole campus,” Danforth said. “We were a smaller institution then, and I didn’t think it made sense to try and solve every problem with a new person in charge of something.”

The most recent push to fill the position began in 2007 in response to the violent rape of a female student in Myers Hall by a man unaffiliated with the University. That year, Student Union Senate passed two resolutions in favor of the position and students began to lobby the administration in earnest.

Those efforts sparked the University to re-recognize the importance of facing the problem posed by sexual assault, and led to a year-and-a-half-long process of writing a position statement and the ongoing interview process.

Shifting focus

During the long development of the position, its scope has shifted substantially.

Currently, the job description emphasizes responding to sexual and relationship violence as a health problem.

According to Glass, the position defines sexual assault and the risk factors associated with it in terms of a broad sense of community health—both the physical and mental well-being of the victim, as well as the ways that alcohol and other mental health problems factor into the perpetration of sexual violence.

“Although universities place these positions in different areas administratively depending on what their culture is, the logic for defining it as health certainly works for our University,” Glass said.

Across the board, those involved with the sexual assault prevention and education movement on campus stressed that whatever the mandate of the position, it was important for it to help to shape the broader conversation on campus in a way that would draw attention to the problem and help facilitate solutions.

“It’s important to remember that having this position won’t solve everything—there’s still going to be sexual assault on campus,” said senior Bobby Harvey, president of the campus Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Helpline (SARAH). “What we can do is have more of a dialogue about it, and hopefully creating the position will help create a dialogue about it because there’s so much that people don’t know about the issues.”