Belmont faces lawsuit over 2008 rape in Bruin Hills
News — By Belmont Vision, Staff Writer, on December 9, 2009 at 12:03 pmOn the morning of Dec. 5, 2008, a Belmont sophomore reported she was raped in the Bruin Hills apartments by an intruder.
The student, identified only as Jane Doe in court papers, has now filed a lawsuit against Belmont University claiming that “insufficient security measures contributed to the assault and that the school downplayed the violent incident in the aftermath,” according to the Nashville City Paper.
At the time of the incident, ID card-activated gates had been removed from the Bruin Hills complex, this is one of several security issues cited in the lawsuit. Director of campus security Terry White told the Belmont Vision in January that the decision came partly because the money typically used for maintenance could be “better utilized to buy cameras and other crime prevention devices.”
The claim filed in Davidson County Circuit Court also charges that Belmont “sent e-mail announcements to its students intentionally misrepresenting the nature and extent of the incident so as to minimize the perception of harm and/or danger to its students.”
White, in his statement to the Vision just weeks after the incident was reported, acknowledged the change in wording over the course of several days and attributed it to the effort to “get information out as quickly as possible” while not startling anyone unnecessarily or “putting out information that would be erroneous.”
Tags: assault, Bruin Hills, campus security, lawsuit, Terry White
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4 Comments
It’s about time this surfaced. Belmont is a great school, but is becoming less and less of a “student-centered” campus and more geared towards marketing itself. Millions of dollars spent on landscaping, yet Campus Security has to move money around in order for safety to be cost effective? I love this University, but I hope that the poor girl is compensated for what she’s had to go through. Hopefully this case makes a point to the rest of the University that something needs to be done about this.
I agree that Belmont is not student centered, they only care about marketing themeselves and making tons of money. I went there and it was the biggest waste of time. I, like several others, was so close to finishing it was just not worth transfering to finish. One girl I spoke with felt bamboozled that she tried to bring in the local news to report them. People might think because it’s across from music row it’s a “big deal” kind of college. Not by a long shot. Not worth the money. No seriously. And the fact that it is so close to ghetto-ish neighborhoods, no one cares when thugs hit campus and commit crimes. This rape is not the first crime to be committed there. Now there’s Belmont law school and pharmacy school, way overpriced, of course. They do NOT care about the students, only marketing themselves, covering their butts, and making millions.
I think it is sad that it takes this much to wake up Belmont. I wish that student voices had been heard all along on this issue. It may have been able to be prevented. This year, I am glad students are getting listened to a bit, because of strong leaders like D.J. King and Eric S. Deems. However, as a campus resident I still haven’t noticed any real action on this issue. I love this school and I wished Belmont supported its current students more. It feels like they focus on the future too much to worry about the now. I am glad Belmont’s administration is finally being served some truth publicly. At least some action will now be taken so Belmont can save face.
I love Belmont so far in my experiences there, but what really startled me about this incident is that they really seem to want to hide it completely. Victims of rape should especially not be treated that way.
What shook me the most, though, is a friend who told me the local station that aired the story was suspiciously not working on Belmont’s cable during the news hour when they reported it. I couldn’t verify it for myself, but that’s pretty startling if true.