Liberal Arts College Waited Days to Tell Students About Alleged Dorm Gang Rape

Administrators at Curry College, a private liberal arts school in Milton, Massachussetts, waited nearly a week to tell students and the rest of the campus community about an alleged gang rape of a student — described in court documents as “highly intoxicated” — in the dorms last month.

“I’ve written to you today in an effort to share appropriate factual information while continuing to respect the privacy of the student who reported the alleged assault and the ongoing nature of the proceedings by external law enforcement,” Maryellen Kiley, the college’s dean of students, wrote in a Jan. 28 email, according to the Boston Globe. The alleged attack occurred on January 22nd. Curry College spokeswoman Frances Jackson said the administration wanted to wait until the men were arrested before sending out the notice, which seems fair — except that they were arrested on Friday, January 25, and the email wasn’t sent until the following Monday.

Jackson also said that “the past policy has been to notify the full campus in situations where an assailant is unknown, which was not the case in this instance.” Two of the suspects are former Curry students.

It’s obviously easier for a college to report “stranger” rape right away; an alcohol-fueled gang rape that involves people known to the small community (around 2,700 undergraduates) is trickier to handle. But why did they wait the entire weekend to report it, and what kind of message does that send the community about the administration’s support when it comes to sexual assault?