For some new arrivals, the Public Safety session held during orientation week might have seemed unnecessary on a campus that is generally thought of as impervious to acts of violence. But for one junior who was assaulted on campus only a week and a half before new students arrived for orientation, safety tips like those given at the session reflect the harsh reality that aggressive acts can occur here on campus.
“I used to think that Wesleyan was very, very safe [and that] nothing really happens [to you] unless you’re stupid…but I can’t believe that notion now,” says the student, who wishes to remain anonymous because he doesn’t want the attention that he feels the assault would bring from his peers.
The attack occurred early in the evening on Aug. 16 while he was walking towards Williams Street from the Exley Science Center, where he performed research over the summer. When he passed two boys in their late teens, the student smiled and greeted them.
According to the Middletown Police Department’s report on the incident, the boys started speaking in a hostile manner towards the student, and, when he tried to walk away, struck him in the back of the head, causing him to fall to the ground. He was then punched in the back of the head again by both boys before they ran away from the scene.
The student called Public Safety from a campus phone and was transported by an officer to Middlesex Hospital.
As an international student who has lived here for three years, the assault left him astonished, as he has become accustomed to feeling secure in the Wesleyan community.
“I come from a very small village where everybody knows everybody…Why would anybody want to hit somebody, you know?” he asked.
The gap between what would happen in his hometown and what happened to him on campus, he explained, is too large for his parents to understand, which is why he decided to not tell them about it.
“I don’t want them to freak out…I’m still okay and alive,” he said.
Two pieces of evidence were retrieved by a police officer who performed a K-9 track of the area where the assault took place: a red bicycle and a pair of Adidas sandals.
No suspects have been identified, which motivated the Office of Public Safety to send out a Public Safety Advisory on the day after the assault. According to Director of Public Safety David Meyer, the suspects are most likely not students, based on their age.
Meyer said that while he does not know exactly how many assaults like
this one have happened in past years on campus, he knows that assaults of this kind usually begin with a “verbal exchange.”
He stressed that students who are new to campus should not fear for their safety based solely upon this one incident, and suggests that students walk in groups to stay safe.
“If you must walk alone, be alert to your surroundings, [and] choose well-lighted routes that are heavily traveled,” Public Safety’s website recommends.
The assaulted student, however, warns that the implication that assaults can happen only at night is misleading, especially since his own assault happened when he was fully attentive and while it was still light out.
According to Rozina Haile ’11, who attended the Public Safety information session during orientation, Middletown Police Officer Rob Siena, who ran the session with David Meyer, said that there has been an increase in gang violence in Middletown.
When asked about the possibility that the recent assault was gang-related, Meyer stated that it would be difficult to relate the assault to any gang violence in Middletown, and said he doesn’t remember either he or Officer Siena speaking about gang activity at the information session.
While the assaulted student’s injuries have now healed, the attack has left a lasting impression.
“I still try to walk alone just because I reassure myself that this is a place where I can [do that]…but sometimes [I think], ‘Am I doing the wrong thing?’” he said.
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