Written by 5:39 pm Editorials • 2 Comments

On Security at Conn

Some members of the Connecticut College community may be aware of the arrest that was made early last Sunday morning after a man — unconnected with Connecticut College — sexually assaulted several young women at a Cro dance. Others may not have known about the incident since it was not widely publicized save for a brief article on the Voice website.

The man in question, later identified by New London police as Julian Quintero, 21, of Groton, had affiliations with the U.S Navy, but lied and told Campus Safety officers he was a member of the Coast Guard Academy. CGA police arrived on the scene only to discover that the offender was not a cadet at the school. New London police were called and after interviewing the victims, left with Quintero who spent the night in jail. He has been charged with second-degree breach of peace and fourth-degree sexual assault. Campus Safety officers were praised for their quick and effective response to the incident.

While the culprit was caught, the questions we should be asking are why was he here in the first place, and how we can prevent another incident like this from happening at the next Cro dance.

Students at Conn are aware of our lax security system compared to other colleges and universities. Connecticut College is an “open campus,” meaning we allow people to visit and attend lectures, performances, seminars and shows that are open to the public. We don’t become a gated community until 10 PM each night when the gates go up; at that point, the only entrance to the school is the main entrance where “all vehicles are checked by Campus Safety officers, and only those who have a legitimate need to be on campus are granted access,” said Stewart Smith, Director of Campus Safety.

But what about people who enter campus on foot?

It might not be possible to drive on to campus after 10 PM, but people can certainly walk on to school grounds by the admissions building or by the Benham Road entrance near College House. While Campus Safety officers constantly patrol the campus and question any suspicious person, they rely on information from the community to help them catch and escort out any person who does not belong on campus. And on a Saturday night, how can you know who is on campus legitimately (as a guest of a student, for example) and who just walked on campus to crash a Cro dance? No one is going to alert Campus Safety if they see a person that doesn’t look familiar on a Saturday night, unless said mysterious person is doing something suspicious or illegal, which is exactly what happened the night of Quintero’s arrest.

Things got a little too wild at the Jungle Dance when Quintero began touching female students inappropriately and unwarrantedly, leading a couple of them to seek out Campus Safety officers. When Quintero offered to leave and then made a run for it, the officers caught up with and tackled him to the ground. Officer Smith credits this quick action to a new shift plan instituted four years ago, in which extra officers are on duty during “heavy activity nights,” like Saturdays. I think the extra staffing plan is effective and necessary, since more incidents are likely to occur on party nights when alcohol is thrown into the mix. But I believe that Quintero shouldn’t have been on campus in the first place.

I’m aware that sexual assault incidents do happen on campus from members of our own community so that this isn’t just a problem of strangers on campus partying with us on Saturday nights. I also recognize the efforts of programs like Think S.A.F.E. and Green Dot, as well as resources provided by Darcie Folsom, Campus Safety and counseling services; we are fortunate to have these sources available to help us. Still, there is something creepy and unsettling about the fact that a 21-year-old man from Groton can walk on to campus, attend a Cro dance and be so intoxicated that he goes around and fondles students before trying to run away. Perhaps Conn should take a hint from other colleges that require visiting guests to register with a student before being granted access to campus. We have this system in place after 10 PM each night, but maybe it needs to be a 24/7 security measure. Am I saying that we should eliminate our open-door policy at Conn? No, but I do believe that we should be open to having a dialogue about security measures and about preventing incidents like this from happening again. No one wants to find themselves in any kind of uncomfortable or dangerous situation, especially in a place that they consider safe.

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