On February 14, 2019 at 10:10 a.m. the President of Saint Xavier University, Laurie M. Joyner, sent out an email to the SXU Community pertaining to the alleged sexual assault that happened on campus last fall.
After the female student involved in the alleged sexual assault posted details about the incident to social media, the SXU community was quick to respond, while the SXU administration had to wait to respond due to certain policies.
The social media post was made on February 5, 2019 at 2:44 p.m. and many students were waiting to see how to administration would react and comment on the matter.
The email started by stating, “I am reaching out to affirm that Saint Xavier University has taken all appropriate measures to ensure the safety of its students while also respecting the privacy of those involved in a situation that has recently emerged on social media.”
While many students were waiting for the administration to comment before they would comment themselves, a majority of the students stated how they felt about the situation at hand as soon as it was out in the open.
“I feel like the email didn’t really affect anyone because it didn’t show that people took action. Also regardless of the email, we live in a society where we don’t know if the accusations are true because both girls and guys can lie about what happened,” commented a female SXU student.
There have been many different opinions on the matter, which has caused some division among the students on campus. When asked if he thought the email helped to calm down the SXU community, a male student replied,”I believe the email did help calm down the SXU community since they provided sessions for students to talk about any concerns they had. I do hope they did a full investigation into the incident before sending out this email, and made sure they had all the facts.”
Meetings were set up for students to voice their concerns and to ask questions about how a case would be handled and the steps that go along with it. The email continued and in the middle it stated,“The University also investigated the situation in a thorough, expeditious, professional and compassionate manner. The recommendation from the initial University investigation was that there was not sufficient evidence to convene a hearing. However, consistent with the applicable federal law Title IX protocol, University leadership has decided to take the additional step of convening a private hearing on this matter.”
The additional step of convening a private hearing is going to take some time, and the University asks for the students patience as they will not be sharing any specific information out of respect for the parties involved.
“I do not think the email had any impact on the SXU community because of the fact that a majority of the recipients just skimmed through it and never gave it a second thought. I believe the president is using email as an easy way out because no one can then say she didn’t inform the student body about the update in policies, because all those with an SXU.edu handle received it in their inbox. Whether any of them read it remains to be confirmed,” stated a female SXU student when asked if she thought the email had any impact on the SXU community.
The email ended by stating, “Let me express my gratitude, in advance, for your prayers, responsible decorum and recognition that the process underway is one conducted confidentially and absent public engagement.”
Many students have differing opinions on the matter at hand and how the email has affect the already impacted community.
The SXU community will have to wait for the next course of action for this difficult process to unfold.
Kylee Rus
News Reporter