ISSUE 5 FEB. 23
SPRING 2016
BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIER: Sexual assault ‘prosecution’ at Florida Tech
Photo by Ebube Ubochi
The fliers line the bathroom stalls. Your eyes may rest for half a beat on the posters taped across the various walls across campus, and with a passing glance, you might continue on with your day. Eight people reported being sexually assaulted at Florida Tech in 2014, one of those in a residence hall. Of the eight that were reported, only four of them were sanctioned in what is called the University Disciplinary Committee: a panel of people that finds an accused guilty or not guilty. The UDC handles all disciplinary sanctions brought
against students, not just sexual assault allegations. It’s made up of faculty, staff and students. Dr. Dwayne McCay appoints the three faculty and staff members, and the Student Government President appoints the seven Justices. “It’s a big responsibility,” said Jess Cushman, SGA President. “It requires confidentiality.” So to get to the end process, which can seem harrowing, you have to take it back to the beginning. If a student thinks she or he has been sexually assaulted, she can go to many resources on campus. If she lives in a
Residence Hall, she can talk to her RA, though it should be noted RAs are a mandatory reporters. This means they’re required to report it to Security, and an investigation will continue. Pretty much anyone a student tells that’s in an administrative position is a mandatory reporter except CAPS, the Health Center and the Clergy. After telling someone, whether it be an RA or a professor or someone else, the next step will probably almost always be going to Security. When going to Security, a student will be asked if they want to file a report with Mel-
bourne Police. Florida Tech’s Holzer Health Center doesn’t have the resources to have rape kit testing done, mainly because of legal reasons, according to Joni Oglesby, Title IX Coordinator, and so Security always gently encourages victims to have rape kit tests done at the nearby hospital with Melbourne Police if they’re willing. “We try to get all the victims to allow us to call the police,” said Kevin Graham, director of Security. “Many times, they’re very apprehensive about that. But they have up to two years, they
have a certain time period in which they can file a criminal complaint.” The University is investigating for a violation in the student code of conduct, while if the student also files a report with Melbourne Police at the same time, MPD will be investigating for a violation of the Florida Crimes Code. A student can be found guilty of one, or both, or neither of these violations if they’re accused of a sexual assault. (Continued on page 4)
//REBEKAH DUNTZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @BEKA.PD
Ten offices broken into at Crawford Science Tower Ten offices were broken into in the Crawford Tower last week, as of Feb. 22, where the assailants stole several current edition textbooks in a complicated, stupefying manner. Security is currently investigating the burglary of which all happened on the fifth and third floors. Four of the offices were on the fifth floor, and six of the offices were on the third floor. The question: did they walk in with a set of submaster keys, or come in through the ceiling? According to Security, the cameras and swipe access didn’t catch anything. Many of the offices on both the floors, according to multiple sources, had white ceiling tile powder all over the floor and all over the desks when they entered their offices that Friday morning.
“I walk into my office, and at first I laughed because I thought somebody was pranking me because it looked like snow was everywhere. So there’s this white debris everywhere so I was like ‘haha, somebody pulled a funny,’” said Natalie Dorfeld, professor of communication. “And then I realized the towels were misplaced over my chair, and every single book I had was rifled through, and every single drawer was open,” she said. “So at first I thought well, maybe they’re doing construction, or maybe it was the wiring, and then we all quickly realized we’ve been robbed.” Twenty books were stolen from Dorfeld’s office, though she didn’t have all the names of the texts on inventory on her bookshelf, so she will only be able to replace a few of them through her depart-
ment. “And the school definitely doesn’t need to be making more purchases,” said Keturah Mazo, communication professor and another victim of the robbery whose office resides next door to Dorfeld’s. “I found out Friday,” said Ingrid Bradley. “I went to my office to do some course preparation and look for some textbooks and came back to my office and looked on my bookshelf there was nothing there but one book left out of probably 20.” Hers were texts she’s collected over the years, for consulting and for school. “The evidence gathered at the scene indicates that entry was likely through the office doors,” Kevin Graham said in a press release. Dorfeld described the scene: The motion sensors in
the offices had been disabled, as well as the blinds being closed shut. White powder covered the desks and floors in some offices. The offices were disheveled, drawers left opened and rummaged through and papers in disarray. “I made the initial call to Security, and I was originally told it was probably a cleaning crew,” said Mazo. “And they didn’t realize until they came up for [Dorfeld] when she realized she was missing textbooks that day that all my current texts were gone.” Mazo and Dorfeld said don’t necessarily agree with Security’s stance that the per-
petrators could have entered through the doors. Mazo said, “If they came in through the door, it would have had to have been with a key, which means who has the keys?” “To unlock all the doors, it would have had to be a submaster,” said Greg Tsark, university architect. “Now this is math and humanities, right? So there’s two different submasters. So that doesn’t make sense either, does it?”v
//REBEKAH DUNTZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @BEKA.PD
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