For the record, my first year of university was spent at a secular institution in mixed accommodation with no regulations on behaviour between the sexes. I clearly understood in that moment that Christendom College did not care about the safety of its students. The college had no policy on sexual assault? Never, under any circumstances, admit that it was a complicated process that involved implementing a parallel judicial system. Honestly, that is all I hear for the first half of the article. 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. The other students were friendly and contributed to a comfy atmosphere (though I say this as someone who earnestly tried to be a good rule-following Catholic; if you were closeted LGBTQ+, for instance, I'd imagine it was a lot less comfy). As a current parent at Christendom I was floored by this article. To those students who have been harmed, I am deeply sorry. Our on-campus nurse and counselor are available at no cost and can help with trauma and recovery. There is a french expression a la folie; when you love someone a la folie, it means you love them to the point of madness. Furthermore, it is alleged that you continued to harass her by trying to provoke her to slap you, hit you or kiss you. Christendom is NOT in the Arctic Circle. Christendom College offers an amazing Liberal Arts education that is immersed in the Catholic Faith. The man was not charged, let alone convicted of rape. Maybe that needs to be spoken about more openly among students. Can we PLEASE stop framing this as something between women and men and acknowledge that assault and coercion also happen between men and between women, as well as from women to men? And no-one can really know the statistics. This response sounds like a trolling hay day, so if thats what you were going for, good job! Not the most helpful thing, Mrs. Fischer. Her parents, brother, and friends encouraged her to transfer. Protected: Ill See Myself Out, Episode 62: Episodic! No wonder Christendom is so embarrassed that they havent put their apology on their website yet. As part of this commitment, the College undertakes to educate the student body about sexual harassment and assault. If only for the sake of that important virtue diversity shouldnt there be ONE school in the country that has these rules for those who CHOOSE to attend? However, then the college has to be careful not to be encouraging a back seat car scenario in their recreation rooms. Sexual harassment and assault is inimical to such an environment. Miriel. . Never tell a rape or assault victim that consent is nebulous. You use false logic and your pen is sadly misdirected this time. The more men have to be heroic, the more women do as well. He then began approaching and provoking her on campus. When someone returns to campus drunk there is solid proof, and it is easy to immediately punish the person for the offense. We need to hear you and your experience. afterwards. . 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. I have been to Front Royal many times and it has LOTS of cafes. But the stubborn Irish in me determined if I left, he would win. 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? Oh, this was before cellphones. I went there for one semester (spring 2014). Simcha, Im not quite sure what any of the rape allegations have to do with Christendom College. You are right, men do absolutely do have that ability to control themselves. We ignore it at our peril. 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. . That is not the case at all with rape. This whole story made me so sad, especially reading it as a Christendom graduate and now mother who is raising sons and daughters in this confused and fallen world. They have further to go to create safe environments for women. What did this mean about me in my conservative Christian culture? Inaccuracies did not have to do with Miss Smiths heartbreaking account. Thank you for this perspective. Everyone knew., Smith complained to the school, and she says they gave Marshner a slap on the wrist.. College students are able to refrain the same as monks, office workers, single adults and most adults in public life. Guess the best cure for christianity is learning what christianity is actually about. Students werent forced off campus to have sex; they always found some place to do it, even if it was in a medieval dungeon. 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. An authentically Catholic college that prepares you for the future The cultural revolution of the twentieth century continues to take its toll on the world and on Catholic higher education. While not commenting on this particular scenario, it got me musing (once again) on the whole problem of sexual assault and the current #metoo movement. We clearly received the impression that Mr. Dorman wasnt going to do anything . Again, every college in America that has less strict PDA rules (nearly every college in America) has rape. And I think the criticism of the PDA policy is quite apt. Then he tried it again, and I pushed his hand away, and said, Please, I dont want to do that. He said, Okay. Then he tried a third time, she said. . Im glad to see Christendom has made some changes and I certainly hope it will continue to educate its students and do all they can do to minister to needs and address wrongs. All his body language was hostile and arrogant.. 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. Because Simcha has an ax to grind. 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. Founded in 1977 in response to the devastating blow inflicted on Catholic higher education by the cultural revolution which swept across America in the 1960s, Christendoms goal is to provide a truly Catholic education in fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and thereby to prepare students for their role as lay apostles to restore all things in Christ. You are very brave. Imply that what they did was nothing. Use your words to express the difficulty of what you are feeling. I remember loving the lushness of the area. 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. "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 Another tangential point: I dont understand the outrage communicated by so many that the standards for women are so much higher than the one for men, and that a great amount of responsibility rests on our shoulders to keep men chaste. But in that year, 2012, a year after she reported her rape, the school still had not added a policy against sexual assault to their student handbook. Another day, while other students played some sort of game on campus, the young man approached her and began to insist that she slap him across the face. Well be waiting forever. [19], Christendom College has received notable attention from members of the Catholic Church since its founding in 1977, including from Pope John Paul II. We should demand it be better. The River and the drinking that occurs there is an open secret that the administration is aware of. Help me fund this site and get access to my and my husbands occasional podcast and other perks. I propose for your consideration numerous scenarios of young women and men wherein even if the woman is saying no with her voice, her body language is communicating something entirely different. They had a legal responsibility to investigate throughly, and a moral responsibility to respond appropriately, which they did not do. 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. Yes, there were party girls at SMC. Kissing allowed. Episode #60: Who or what is a Malcolm Gladwell? Front Royal, Virginia christendom.edu Born September 14 Joined September 2009. Accustomed to a large, sociable, extended family, she knew Christendom would be conservative, but was bemused by the strict segregation of males and females. The college has since updated the apology with a Sexual Misconduct FAQs page that outlines the steps the college takes when cases of sexual misconduct are brought to its attention.[31]. People are fallible and improvements can always be made but Im sorry, how would anyone miss that rape falls into the category of mortal sin .and yes Moral Theology is covered freshman year. The students views, whether they arrived with them or picked them up at Christendom, were wildly sexist both men and women. I went there for four and a half years, and my experience was the opposite they were *really* hard on sexual issues, and pretty lenient on the drinking. It was just a generic example used year after year. Their response was a poor excuse for an apology. Unfortunately, sexual assault is happening throughout the Catholic (and homeschooling) community in Front Royal, not just Christendom. Protected: Podcast 38: In which we hit rock bottom. The fact that students are taught that men can not say no and are nothing less than animals is degrading to the male gender and puts all responsibility on the woman without holding men accountable. There are so many other choices that dont have these rules. Finally comfortable in my own skin, as long as I avoid the dreaded Catholic bubble. But by not questioning the accused on the matter of rape (it wasnt mentioned in his disciplinary notice), the college forfeited responsibility altogether. Burning at the stake fits the witch-hunt analogy, because thats what this article amounts to. [38], Christendom College has two schools offering graduate and undergraduate degrees. The woman interviewed described what she remembered from the time she was there. If they do, their efforts to grow as a Catholic college will surely be blessed by greater growth in virtue. The other allegations against him were also by hearsay, and they put those allegations in writing and asked him to defend himself. Gross means the opposite of minor. The Bishop scandal was about the Bishops taking the law into their own hands and trying to cover up and cure people with their own minor penalties, without reporting anything. Judge William W. Sharp accepted the agreement and Luckeys guilty pleas. Real piece of work. I didnt say they should immediately assume hes a rapist, call him a rapist, and publicly expel him as a rapist. The other items linked ARE quoted and described in the article. Ask any psychologist who works with seminarians how many enter the seminary struggling in a battle against pornography. The school apparently based its response on two facts: First, there was, in 2011, no clause in the student handbook prohibiting sexual assault. I dont doubt that injustices have been done in the past and will be done in the future: this is a fallen world. I would go down the road to the convenience store, and hed be sitting outside, and I couldnt walk in. But the job of the press would be to make me out a liar, Smith said, noting that rape victims often find the trial to be more traumatizing than the actual event. Ya got me! 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. That doesnt really sound like they didnt take it seriously, but that they went above and beyond the accusation at face value and tried to address it by doing extensive research. Some of those rapists are in places like Christendom, places you would think would be safe, you know, like the company of priests when you are an altar boy. Never mind the mental health agony I endured in thinking I had brought on myself same-sex erotic involvement. It felt like a never ending guilt trip. Lately, I've started "coming out" as an agnostic to most of my friends from there. Perhaps they did mention it. Smith had hurt her back in a car accident when she was a freshman. People will actually believe this ludicrous drivel. A family member of mine is a graduate and while at Christendom, knew a few students that went to the police about sexual assault. Every street, business, coffeehouse, fast food place, restaurant, movie theater, shopping center, library, store, park. Is it supported by super-strength body language? I have to wonder why people entrust a liberal arts school board to be able to fairly assess rape allegations, when law enforcement werent able to. The hollow piety I encountered there was so devastating, I expected everyone to be devout, not just going through the motions. It still deserves to be addressed adequately by the Admins, but we were much safer than most campuses. I eventually burned out on the whole experience around senior year, though it took me until after I graduated to actually question the foundations of the faith I'd spent the last four years pounding into my head (and even longer to finally LEAVE it, but that's another story). A complete careful investigation, in their own words. What if anyone found out? A reasonable process may not have been able to do anything about the situation, but a reasonable process still should have been pursued. You shooting in the dark hoping to hit a target, isnt helping. Exactly. Could it be because the policy might show the school in a favorable light? @ChristendomVA. It was not reported to the police for YEARS. Like Christendom, Thomas Aquinas College (TAC) in Santa Paula, Calif., is one of many small Catholic liberal arts colleges well known for faithfulness to the magisterium. This is not degrading but a call to heroism on both sides. The matters of consent and power (and agency and autonomy) are at play here with parents as well as with dating relationships. As a graduate of Christendom, I see no reason why he couldnt have been expelled. Theyre usually published in any article Ive ever read regarding assault. In retrospect, I can say, Youre a dummy! But back then, I was nineteen. I was at Saint Marys in South Bend and we had a student body of about 1,500, tops. 1) Paint a picture of the college not doing crap to help victims. The exhilaration is so much that you cant think straight, you get dizzy. It is this women have to hold men accountable standard that fails the college. the men of tis campus are filled with a joy in being a gentleman to every girl. (frankly, my dear, i would stay clear of all of those guys. Christendom has taken several steps forward. Smiths parents also drove the four hundred miles to meet with the dean, hoping to encourage him to take the charges against their daughters rapist seriously. This is an insane accusation and was never the case, as students have stated. When I tried to figure out what had happened, I would say, He had sex with me, but I didnt, she said. Was there ever a police report filed? [3] Carroll stepped back to focus on teaching history and writing, remaining on the faculty and serving as the chairman of the history department until his retirement in 2002. When I left the DHS I got a teaching job at a progressive catholic high school and the culture shock was intense. In one way, Im glad I have this information. I considered Christendom, but that seemed a bit too much for me at the time. . 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. By whose definition are they adults? In The Sin of White Supremacy: Christianity, Racism and Religious Diversity in America (Orbis, 2017), Jeannine Hill Fletcher, Ph.D., professor of theology, examines theology's culpability in perpetuating ideas that elevate both Christianity and whiteness over all else. Not a Christendom problem. Our time-tested integrated liberal arts education is the ideal education for the future. Seriously how is this possible? In 2021, the rugby team won the National Collegiate Rugby Cohen Cup National Championship in Houston, Texas, defeating New Mexico Tech. Smith skipped many classes her sophomore year, unable to endure being in the same room with him. 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. The idea is that if you dont have make out places, youll get rape places. Whatever happened to justice? Why not the new policy? But when someone stated they were raped, you do not tell them oh come on, you gave in to the thrill more than the fear. Sure, maybe. However, Im not sure the reporting here accurately reflects of the issues at Christendom, and it certainly doesnt lay out anything that can be done to improve conditions for future students, as the few things suggested have already been implemented. Several have contended that having a policy would have prevented the problem. states that have laws saying Dont rape people. I also disagree with your assessment that author doesnt have a clear stance on whether the student should have been expelled. The school restraining order, if properly enforced(which I suppose to the authors credit, could very rationally be called into question), should at least be acknowledged as an attempt to guarantee her safety. If they had to leave public areas to show affection, then they might as well go to the prettiest. Christendom has no love, and without love there is only tyranny. Ive always thought that would be delightful and I graduated in 2000 from Christendom. Most didnt know what was going on or how to handle me but at least they tried to hold out their hand. I am not making this up. Which most of us dont want to read. It is not uncommon, either. ), Protected: Podcast #48: Accidentally unnamed, Protected: Podcast #46: Mamas little snakey loves bananofee pie, Protected: Podcast #45: Sharples and cocaine, Protected: Podcast 44: Some degree of martyrdom, One long dad joke: My interview with EOTTs S.C. Naoum. I had my arms pushed together, my elbows to my hands pushed together in front of my chest, trying to keep myself covered. The faculty at this school is one of the most remarkable aspects of Christendom. He may or may not be a rapist, but do you really want institutions denouncing a man as a rapist without a trial. What are men doing to step up their game for women? Is hearing both sides unreasonable? Contact the Site Admin. He sat beside her and began to make small talk, putting his hand on her leg. they arent normal. I think both sexes can rise to a greater standard. But here Christendom has done the opposite. The school promised to conduct a complete and careful investigation.. In the charge letter delivered to the young man on July 19, 2011, then-dean Jesse Dorman wrote: The intent of the Student Life Office is to support each student as he or she works to grow in virtue . Im not saying that the accused should have been expelled. Feb 5, 2018 / 15:45 pm. Christendom College will continue to do everything it can to understand how to best respond to these very difficult and tragic situations. So places without rda rules have less rape? I was working maintenance as a student between the times of these incidents. Thats seriously twisted to put your struggles onto a rape victim. ok, but what evidence did the college have that he did? We cant! Another no escapes your lips and you make another feeble effort to turn away or push his hands away. Merely printing something against rape seems redundant, though. 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. I hope and pray that the administration can get it together and respond better to sexual assault claims, because it IS a great place. Christendom College is a four-year coeducational Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College with undergraduate and graduate programs offered in locations in Front Royal and Alexandria, Virginia, Donegal, Ireland, and Rome, Italy. To find out more about Student Achievement at Christendom, click here. I marched in the March for Life and protested a DC abortion clinic; for anyone whose lives I made worse by pushing anti-abortion propaganda, I am truly sorry. If Front Royal is a tiny rural town, as these articles say, then a college, even a small one, is a large part of that town. How can young people be prepared to succeed and keep the Faith in such a world? However, if you combine Christendom, Seton Home Study, and the many Christendom grads who have settled around town, its a sizable bloc if they actually all agreed that something should be done. So now my daughter must endure the presence of her attacker on the campus. I believe Miss Smiths story too, but I cant verify it. However, I was a student at Christendom and nothing could be further from a boys will be boys culture on campus regarding sexual assault.