yes! Second, I havent seen any evidence in this article or in Christendoms response that the accused was placed before college authorities and questioned regarding the incident. It is alleged that a professor offered an example about Adele in class in an effort to smear her, however multiple students have come forward to say that his example was being used many, many years before Adela even attended the university, so it couldnt have been about her. Sexual assault happens to 1-6 women. They had to drive. The way I see it, and many may disagree with this, but the failure was not a moral failure, but an administerial one(if that).. But there were many inaccuracies about the school: we never had to get outfits approved for dates, you are allowed to sit next to each other, and we didnt have to wear skirts all the time. When we do so, the conversations about purity culture and what people wear will also become moot points, because it is about power and consent, regardless of gender. Ive told him three times not to. Probably liability reasons. Our culture promotes chivalry and kindness towards everyone at Christendom. As a cis dude, I found the dress code obnoxious, but never harsh. All rights reserved. LOL do you really think students who put a mattress on the cement floor of a basement were looking for romance?! [in loco parentis] is not a phrase that I use with any frequency, ODonnell wrote toward the end of his letter to Scott Smith. Why insinuate the government is going to do it better. A change.org petition in support of O'Donnell was signed by over 1,000 people. so: it is either a case of the same writer pretending to be two writer. or CC issues pre-fabed letters that require only a signature- if that. It was up to me to avoid him, she said. False accusations may be relatively rare, but they are still real. Back at the time, when I was an 18-year-old fresh convert, it was EXACTLY the kind of place I wanted to be. A current professor (Dr. McGuire) who was actually involved in the Adele alleged rape case has come forward in the comments and stated things that were done to help Adele that the Fishers never reported on. This way of thinking is part of the problem and how dare you try and equate her rape with a cheap romance novel script. Although the school imposed sanctions on the young man, he was taken under the wing of one of its founders and professors, William Marshner, and he lived in Marshners house for the semester he was barred from living on campus. Its not 50% excitement its 100% terror. The spirituality they relentlessly pushed never really clicked for me, though I always told myself it was my fault for not Jesusing harder, for not totally surrendering myself to a God Who wasn't really interested in talking back. The students views, whether they arrived with them or picked them up at Christendom, were wildly sexist both men and women. Of course, the university wouldnt be so tactless: thats the engineer in me coming out. Perhaps could have been goaded into admitting he forced her against her will via text if tweeked in the right way. He sat beside her and began to make small talk, putting his hand on her leg. A school can also take rape allegations seriously, and remove the accused person from campus. No matter what your belief now, or if you have no belief at all. The alleged assault did not occur on campus. As a graduate of Christendom, I see no reason why he couldnt have been expelled. It does truly permeate the campus. Critics claimed that conservative schools, such as Hillsdale College, Grove City College, and Christendom were intentionally left off due to their conservative values. The first amendment offers incredible protections for shoddy journalism like this piece offers. And I think hearing the other side is always critical. It specifically mentions witnesses. But while Christendom . i Love this reply. No is no is no. The college had no policy on sexual assault? Fedoryka, through his contacts in the Vatican, brought the college into contact with then-Pope John Paul II, who later told Carroll that Christendom "was doing a great work for the Church. Same sex dorms is considered strict segregation? And they need to get rid of those moldy carpets! It still deserves to be addressed adequately by the Admins, but we were much safer than most campuses. Christendom College admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. . Catholic or nonCatholic, If one interprets this as a endorsement of rape, the fault is on them. While the classes and Catholic culture are unique, the college administration struggles with some modernization of the buildings . 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. The truth matters little. We have to ask ourselves if its okay for innocent men to have lives ruined for the trade off of punishing all the men who deserve it. They would come around to the dorms (I worked at a front desk) to check in and see that everything was okay on a regular basis. But yeah, there was definitely navet in spades. I feel challenged, respected, and loved by my teachers and am so grateful to be their student. Smith thinks he might have been trying to make it appear that she was the one who assaulted him. It is also questionable whether colleges and universities are equipped to handle such investigations internally. Huh. After Adele did slap you, you allegedly said, If you slapped me really hard and it really hurt, I wouldnt want to kiss you. It is further alleged that on other occasions you went out of your way to volunteer with groups of friends that Adele had seduced you. By driving students off campus, the school is making the students, especially women, more vulnerable. Friday Night Mandatory Lent Film Party, 2023 edition! Or going to the county if the town is not addressing it? It was usually fairly evident who those people were and if you didnt want trouble, you stayed out of their circle. The more men have to be heroic, the more women do as well. All the fancy theology was useless for anything except further torturing myself for not being a good enough Catholic, not following the rules enough, and not being spiritual enough. The woman interviewed described what she remembered from the time she was there. The whole In loco parentis thing was alive and well and enforced. Amanda Graf, the current Director of Student Affairs at Christendom, confirms that student handbook did not include a policy against sexual assault until 2013, two years after Smith reported her rape. Protected: Pocast #18: Lets just do it and be legends! At first she didnt want to allow that word, and grew defensive, blaming herself for the assault. Smith and her brother stayed long after midnight talking, and Jenislawski told her he knew something had happened to her. But you arent asking that question seriously. She describes the open houses that would take place in the dorms once a semester. I was in grad school at Yale during the first part of my deconversion. Grad school was a very supportive environment for me in a number of ways. At that point, any option is deteriorating in safety. I hope you will also do an expose on colleges such as Notre Damethe wackadoodle attitudes I encountered there regarding women and sex would make your head spin. Her GPA slipped to 1.2. Therefore I found you responsible for the violation of Harassment.. Students who go to remote areas are by-passing safe, public places where they could engage in the PDA behavior you complain is banned on campus. 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. I say, if you rape off campus, when you come back to campus, youre still a rapist.. All the people who are asking if Christendom girls could really be that naive, yes! She will do all she can to honor your requests and make your experience with Christendom College a pleasant and memorable one. Im not saying that the accused should have been expelled. Help me fund this site and get access to my and my husbands occasional podcast and other perks. The lack of PDA rules has not protected the women on those campuses. 2023 Christendom College. in austria i was still unhappy, decided to leave early with an Associates degree. All we know is that they did some kind of inquiry and issued that statement. I went to an elite secular college and had a pretty bad experience. Now, perhaps well-meaning couples end up going farther in private than they would if they could kiss in public, but were not talking about well-meaning couples, were talking about rapists and victims. Could the students be provided with more places to hang out together in small groups? Christendom is nearly unique among Catholic colleges and universities in that, because it accepts no federal funding, it is not subject to the legal constraints of Title IX. Not everyone who is 18 or older fits the definition of an adult. Each day she is persuaded that the college has no intention of supporting her. The college has strict rules about students of opposite sexes being alone together. You could have discussed it without illustrating it so clearly. This is garbage, not because there isnt a problem at Christendom, but because your article contains obvious errors in judgment, is clearly slanted with the intent to make Christendom look bad, and doesnt address the actual problems that make these things happen. How come more worldly girls get raped too?Even from your writing it seems that Christendom did stand up from inside when Miss Smith felt comfortable telling her Theology! 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. Most couples are friends of other couples and all hang out together both on campus and off campus. Six months after graduation, the members of the Class of 2022 had an overall success rate of 98.9%, based on a survey with a 100% knowledgerate. This article sound like the argument for legalization of abortion: if abortion had been legal, coat-hangar abortions never would have happened. Not really much in her comment to provoke a snippy answer anyway. 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. She remembers standing outside the car, smoking a cigarette and shaking, and her boyfriend saying he didnt know why she was making such a big deal out of it. The college cracks down on professors hosting parties with drinking, because theyre professors. What I found was the opposite, the longer a person had been at Christendom the less likely they were to show Christian charity, or even a spirit of evangelization. What are men doing to step up their game for women? Protected: Episode 63: There can be only one hole in the head. His behavior is horrible and I hope that he experiences the full extent of the justice system. Rights to presumption of innocence meaning the burden of proof is on the prosecutor. Theresa, I agree the Admin still needs to prove it is committed and i think the spotlight being held on them by this article will be helpful. No means no. I've got one that's somewhat similar. The school determined the young man was responsible for the violation of Harassment.. My inclination is that this was rape and the man is guilty. Men and women BOTH have free will. And so on. Oops. A complete careful investigation, in their own words. A.M.D.G. Best of luck! If it was me vs. a kitten, the kitten would win, Smith says. I have no doubt that this faith will do the same for each of you if you let it, and perhaps even if you dont. It felt like a human zoo.. If the regulations force people to leave campus to kiss, then they are actually encouraging the kinds of situations that make assault more likely to occur even while they discourage it in other ways. That wasnt their gig. This response sounds like a trolling hay day, so if thats what you were going for, good job! Returning later, I was surprised how much more town there was than I was familiar with. Christendom College was founded by Warren H. Carroll in 1977 with $50,000. As a woman, a student, and a human being I am respected. Smith considered leaving the college, and looked into other schools. Now though, I can confidently say I turned it around. People might think they are trying to help women, and that is an unacceptable conclusion. Protected: Podcast #16: Reporticus Shutupicus! Consent is only nebulous when you refuse to take responsibility for yourself. New student orientation includes a session that covers sexual harassment and assault, reporting, and on-campus resources for support. Protected: Podcast 40: Naked purple capybaras of the world, unite! This encourages privacy and some better behavior. They know they are not as upstanding as they would like. They do not invalidate the substance of the story. I would go down the road to the convenience store, and hed be sitting outside, and I couldnt walk in. Protected: Podcast #20: GET THAT ALLIGATOR AWAY FROM ME! But consent is not usually nebulous. [42], In 2017, Christendom's rugby team won the NSCRO 7's Collegiate Rugby National Championship in its first year of contention. Although Smiths patron is Maria Goretti, the teenaged saint who was stabbed to death while resisting rape, Smith said the concept of rape was foreign to her. Ask any psychologist who works with seminarians how many enter the seminary struggling in a battle against pornography. This would be a situation in which shed be even less safe as the university would literally have no leverage over him. He further harassed her, had told several of his friends that she had seduced him. I was working maintenance as a student between the times of these incidents. Having said that, the culture on campus is not what caused the rape. Bear in mind I never heard of anybody calling security if they were at a party in South Bend that got out of handbut I didnt run in very party-like circles. I left at the end of my freshman year (wouldve been class of 17 if I stayed). Same thing with the dress code. But he did take it away from her, she says. He pushed my arms apart with his hands. Rather, it is a guide the way, the truth, and the life.[26], By refusing to accept most forms of federal funding, Christendom College is exempt from many federal guidelines concerning sex-based and other forms of discrimination (e.g., Title IX), investigations into accusations of sexual abuse, and the sharing of information about on-campus crimes. Which most of us dont want to read. There was one guy who was self-insulated to the point where he was delusionally hostile toward everything "worldly". Justice, and not just criminal secular justice, but justice from our institutions, is a part of Catholic moral theology. In one way, Im glad I have this information. Overview Christendom College is a Comprehensive institution located in Front Royal, VA, in a rural setting. Frankly I think you have misused a term that is quite affectionate.school is a place to learn and at this particular school it is a place to strengthen ones faith.