Im in no way excusing behavior, but I think women need to understand a little bit about the way which men are wired and step up their game. According to records of the minutes taken at two local school board meetings, one of which was held on July 15, 2021 and another on August 5, 2021, multiple public employees at Riverside Unified . Be a patron of the (f)arts! If some believe that our efforts and policies have failed to bring justice to their particular situations, please understand that despite being fallen human beings, the faculty and staff do their very best every day to provide a just and safe environment. This is a favored tactic of shoddy journalists who want to do a hit piece, and the Fishers followed the recipe quite well. It was only people in my freshman class greener than I was who were willing to lend any support. Et cetera. It does truly permeate the campus. It seems they pushed for this charge as there was an actual witness, perhaps more, to that specific behavior. My legs were tightly closed. Yeah, the campus is pretty, but the culture is weird. And all the fancy words you use cant hide that. in Theological Studies degrees online. I cant think of anything more serious than that, thats shy of expulsion. But thats not entirely relevent here. Please think twice next time before you do that. Not sure you thought through what you wrote at all and how that would affect rape victims. It is endorsed by The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College and has been characterized as a conservative Catholic liberal arts college. Curious. The teachers provide a well rounded education of philosophy, history, theology, literature and political science. He kept saying, Hit me. He kept grabbing my hand and trying to make me slap him, Smith said. By driving students off campus, the school is making the students, especially women, more vulnerable. She returned the car to her friend, went back to her dorm, sat down in the shower fully clothed, and cried. Guess the best cure for christianity is learning what christianity is actually about. The entire passage describing his offense is as follows: Specifically, you admitted: to placing your hand on Adele Smiths knee, attempting to provoke her to slap you and or to kiss you to deal with her frustrations with you, and finally for telling some students around campus that she had seduced you. We are in this as a team and pointing fingers at the other sex gets us nowhere. However, a private institution has some flexibility in such matters, and it is not entirely dependent upon the acts of civil authorities. Consent is only nebulous when you refuse to take responsibility for yourself. Smith says the school claimed it takes a long time to implement changes in school policy. Its not that a policy would prevent the problem but rather that it would provide grounds for discipline within the schools jurisdiction. Which means, of course, he may very well have done it again. They know they are not as upstanding as they would like. The culture on campus protects you from being raped on campus, which is why this incident took place off site. I think theres definitely room for improvement in the colleges dealings, but as DCLM already made clear, the school was being asked to provide a parallel court, which is not easy. Surely, prospective students are aware of the rules at Christendom when they choose to apply and go to the school. As for strict PDA, students are allowed reasonable PDA, but what is Fisher looking for for the students to be allowed to have sex on campus. [19], Christendom College has received notable attention from members of the Catholic Church since its founding in 1977, including from Pope John Paul II. At that point, he does not see the difference between this no and that one. Yes, there were party girls at SMC. If you think about it for half a second, youd realize youre asking more of Christendom than literally any institution could ever do, at least when it comes to prevention. For example, Dr. Divietri is just mentioned in passing but it did not say which side the author put him on, so you are left to assume that all names mentioned were complicit in the negligent handling of this case. . In essence, the earliest vision of Christendom was a vision of a Christian theocracy, a government founded upon and upholding Christian values, whose institutions are spread through and over with Christian doctrine. That is exactly what you are saying, men cant control themselves so woman have to. These are Catholic seminarians. Shes taken a lot of crap from that quarter and it would be a misuse of her great gift of writing to use it as payback. If you read the original article, it was clear that the school failed on many counts to do what an institution that claims to be Catholic should have done. They do not invalidate the substance of the story. Simcha does that, see? That is absurd. And if the woman involved was going to say yes anyway to whatever he suggested in terms of where they were going, as she said in the article, how would this have been any different even if there were different or no PDA rules? Smith claims they are dangerous. Which, I dont suppose I have any obligation to do, but its unfair to simply expect the school to just automatically presume the worst. Thats seriously twisted to put your struggles onto a rape victim. Christendom College is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The irony is not lost on me that the one institution that offered any solution, band aid solutions they may be, is also the one institution least responsible for the event, and the one thats being blamed the most. And Im sure you also understand our need to be loved an accepted. Before I left the church one of the last times I went to confession was before serving a mass in the dominican rite for a priest I'd shared most of my courses with in grad school. It took about a month to find a solution, which given the resources for the investigation, makes perfect sense considering theyre not a team of forensic scientists with knowledge of legal prosecutions. The colleges response is a legal response to an alleged crime. History [ edit] Founding [ edit] Every street, business, coffeehouse, fast food place, restaurant, movie theater, shopping center, library, store, park. It would be difficult for Christendom to have a fuller Catholic identity. This response sounds like a trolling hay day, so if thats what you were going for, good job! When someone returns to campus drunk there is solid proof, and it is easy to immediately punish the person for the offense. You spoke to the parents of the graduating students gathered there of the profound sense of responsibility you felt of acting in loco parentis for our children and your gratitude that we, as their parents, had entrusted our children to you . FORTIFYING A COLLEGE THAT PROUDLY REJECTS FEDERAL AID. If you dont have weed places, does that mean youll get crack places? Should rapists be burned at the stake without incontrovertible evidence? I cant relate myself, but I hope youre doing well now! I think maybe it lies in the fact that, because interactions between the sexes are so tightly regulated, couples are far more likely to ensure they are completely out of sight of anyone else, thus providing more opportunities for those with less than pure intentions. Having said that, I have fallen away from the Church now and whenever I look back I have a sense of bitterness to temper the sweetness of the memories. In addition, the article didnt clarify that the college has gotten rid of many of the policies and rules that are being blamed in this article for the assaults (e.g., the no-holding hands rule was jettisoned a while ago). However, then the college has to be careful not to be encouraging a back seat car scenario in their recreation rooms. People will actually believe this ludicrous drivel. Burning at the stake fits the witch-hunt analogy, because thats what this article amounts to. Im a Canadian and while on a bus road trip around the US at 17 (amazing I wasnt murdered), I stopped there to check it out at my dads prompting. To find out more about Student Achievement at Christendom, click here. Never tell a rape or assault victim that consent is nebulous. That is a fundamental principle of justice. Once the implication is in place and the false picture is painted, insert a link to to one of several things theyve done in order to cya. absent more data (im just going off of what Ive read here so far) how exactly is a school supposed to punish someone for a violent felony for which they have Z-E-R-O evidence for? The curriculum consists of three years of study in Theology, three years in Philosophy, two years in English Language and Literature, two years in Classical or Modern Language, two years in History, one year in Political Science and Economics, one year in Mathematics and Natural Science, and 4 years of Education for Life career preparation coursework. . I do think it unfair and infuriating that in the modern world where young people are wandering in a culture without any norms or mores, women are less protected and offer suffer much more than the men do. Not a rapist. Students werent forced off campus to have sex; they always found some place to do it, even if it was in a medieval dungeon. So this rape would not have occurred if the dorms were mixed gender? The reporting alleges/implies that young women arent safe at Christendom, that the university has an ongoing culture of assault and harassment toward women which is accepted by the community, and that the University doesnt help women who have been raped. Why not the new policy? I wasn't really prepared for the amount of raw heresy I was surrounded with. #2. letter kind of reminds me of sessions of my 8th grade social dancing classes This article sounds like Stephanie Meyer had a hay day, so if thats what you were going for, good job! Rob, earlier in the comments, gave wonderful suggestions as to what the school could do, and what he would expect them to do(that they did not), but its still worth noting that the article itself mentions things the school DID do to try to protect the students. All his body language was hostile and arrogant.. She sought psychological help from Dr. Patrick Divietri. Where would be a better Catholic college to send your daughter, Simcha? Is the suggestion that Christendom should act in the place of the police, even without evidence of the rape? If the intent here is to correct inaccuracies rather than, as it appears to be, an attempt to discredit Simcha as a journalist then it would be appropriate to say what exactly was misleading or inaccurate in the original post(s). If Simcha cant openly accuse the guy of rape, how can the school? But is it really fair to expect men to navigate all the mixed signals? The school promised to conduct a complete and careful investigation.. You should realize how awful it is to give the impression that the woman who was raped merely only implied 50% no. Im also trying to highlight what I see as a global problem concerning the question of consent which I think is very nebulous. If she simply made an error in judgment and regretted the decision, she would be stating she had sex and lost her virginity before she planned to. Karl Petrick Assistant Director of Advancement Services Im sorry, I would not want to hurt anyone and I certainly cant judge the situation. Simchas husband, Damien, proceeded to imply that she was lying and has contented multiple times that her quote was not taken out of context. It seems to me that men who lure women into back seats of cars in secluded places would have an even easier time saying Hey, come up to my room to watch a movie. With the roommate being already asked to give them privacy. The young woman went to the police, and due to the lack of evidence, they could not press charges. Christendom College is a Catholic liberal arts college in Front Royal, Virginia, United States, located in the Shenandoah Valley. After what felt like hours, he left. They were in a confined space; the young man was around six feet tall, and Smith is five feet tall. "Critical race theory (CRT) asserts that America's legal framework is inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of color," explains Dr. Denise Donohue, the Ya got me! Which most of us dont want to read. I still live in Front Royal, and until very recently our police have been a joke when it comes to stuff like this. This really sucks because it probably means hes going to get away with it. When you have an educational institution; especially a residential one that does not have an explicit sexual assault policy on the books in 2010, its absolutely reasonable to criticize the institution and its actions. Your article doesnt make sense . I am so sad you had to live through that. You may think thats not what Simcha is actually advocating for, but her complaint comes across as about as realistic. Real piece of work. Recently, one of the priests who was a major force on campus has charged with rape of a mentally-ill woman. His absence helped her reclaim some of her focus. We care if you drink off campus, but not if you rape off campus, she said. I said the college had an obligation to investigate by questioning him directly (in a private setting) about the rape. [32] As a result, a group of alumni called for the school to adopt Title IX policies to better protect students in the future and also called for the resignation of O'Donnell. A handbook that is not going to stop a rape. The whole narrative actually seems quite dependent on that, as they pretty much did everything shy of that. While this student should have somehow received better care, and more protection from this guy later, and while her story is heartrending, it should not be published in an article whose objective is obviously to smear the college and all the good for which it stands. I would posit that when a woman is ovulating her sex drive out strips a mans, I think womens sex drives tend to be ignored because men are more sexual which isnt the case. The Christendom scandal, is about an administration, who got ahold of a case after the legal authorities were already informed and failed to do anything, and then tried to fix the problem in a very lowkey diplomatic way, that would prevent them from being sued by the kids family. Christendom College is a Catholic liberal arts college in Front Royal, Virginia, United States, located in the Shenandoah Valley. It is not the victims terrible story that we dont believe, it is just the illogical conclusions that the author jumps to and the careless damage she is causing that are wrong. Since the story initially broke, additional allegations of at least 18 previous cases of sexual harassment and assault over the past 45 years have been made. Mary Statue By AgnosticPreachersKid (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (. [39] Its flexible and accommodating studies allows students of all ages and from all over the world to attend either part-time or full-time, year-round, summers-only, or winters-only, and also to study at a distance through online courses. Vol. I remember him once going on a rant about how tattoos are marks of psychological disorder and moral perversion. The other allegations against him were also by hearsay, and they put those allegations in writing and asked him to defend himself. While it is true that Cdom, as I understand it, expels people for far less, it is usually for things in which there is more evidence or for matters that are more in their jurisdiction. He is the author of The Persecuted: True Stories of. She links to it directly! You described lust and difficulty mastering it. It is a call to be honest about their mistakes, so they can address them in a properly Christian manner. ' into the handbook. [13], Since 1992, student enrollment has grown from 144 undergraduates to nearly 550 students, not including graduate school students. Students live near the Vatican during the fall and spring, taking classes in St. Peter's Square and traveling across Europe during their time abroad. Yet, it is offered without proof of any sort, or even a source willing to go on record. It was a good conversation, to this day he is one of the only people I've spoken with in real life who I think truly understood the problem and its implications. I had been waiting for marriage. What did this mean about me in my conservative Christian culture? Our culture promotes chivalry and kindness towards everyone at Christendom. We dont stand for PDA, we certainly dont allow for men grabbing arses in public. I remember this clearly from my own dating daysin your head your thinking I dont want to have sex, but gosh, Im attracted to him right now and I dont want to stop! I was absolutely torn in two. As a Catholic, I would imagine you agree that there are actions that are not criminal but that are still wrong. i would find out who is funding this school of etiquette masking as an institution of higher learning before i would give them a plug nickle.. He may or may not be a rapist, but do you really want institutions denouncing a man as a rapist without a trial. Protected: Podcast #19: Parking meters, mixed greens, and other UNBEARABLE SCOURGES. I would go to the only cafe in town, and hed be sitting outside. faculty, staff, etc.). yes! False accusations may be relatively rare, but they are still real. [12] Needing a major gift to launch the project, O'Donnell prayed with then-Executive Vice President Mark McShurley for help and, within 30 minutes of praying together, an anonymous donor called to pledge $250,000 to the Chapel fund. Your email address will not be published. We cant! Another no escapes your lips and you make another feeble effort to turn away or push his hands away. The college had no policy on sexual assault? These are very serious accusations, and the reporting does not match the seriousness of those charges. Christendom College will continue to do everything it can to understand how to best respond to these very difficult and tragic situations. Following allegations that Christendom College mishandled student sexual assault reports, the college's administration has said it is committed to doing better. In a letter dated May 16, 2011, Scott Smith, her father, wrote to Timothy ODonnell, the president of Christendom, Adeles grades plummeted that first semester of her sophomore year.