As the trees begin to bloom along the infinite Cabrini driveway and the warm weather starts to creep in, we start to notice droves of possible future Cavaliers. Typically, the anxious high schoolers are led around by overzealous Cabrini ambassadors, accompanied by family members and anyone influential in the tough college decision.
Those high school seniors are unmistakable, wide-eyed and ready to escape from the clutches of home. Mom and Dad are usually not far behind with the stacks of brochures they’ve picked up in admissions, waving their hands in the air, ready to voice their list of concerns. “Is there an officer sitting at the desk of the dorm at all times?” and “Is the campus safe a night?” are just a few of the questions that the “cool” future students roll their eyes at. But with the recent string of violent incidents on college campuses, students are beginning to ask the very same hard-hitting questions.
As the result of a team party gone wrong held by the Duke University men’s lacrosse team on March 13, 2006, a college student, mother of two and stripper has accused players of rape. Shortly after that, the coach turned in his resignation and the team’s season was cancelled. Almost a month and a half later, an arrest of two team players was finally made.
Take a short drive down Interstate 95 to The College of New Jersey and you’ll find a campus grieving over the missing freshman, John Fiocco. Fiocco came up missing at the end of March and the only trail police had was a pile of bloody clothes found in a dumpster behind Fiocco’s dorm. This past week, Fiocco’s body was discovered in a local landfill.
Just as we thought it could never happen here on our quiet campus in suburban Pennsylvania, Cabrini was blown away by the stabbing of one of its own on April 8 at the close of the much anticipated Spring Fling. The most shocking revelation of it all, was that the stabbing was done by one of Cabrini’s very own.
Rumors still circulate about what the motive really was but students can agree on one thing; we never expected it.
We expect these incidents from city schools like Temple or Rutgers, but never did we anticipate such a travesty happening on our own campus. But Cabrini has now joined in on the volatile trend of violent incidents on campus. A trend that by no means did we sign up for.
The epidemic has made its way down to West Chester University where they are currently dealing with the aftermath of their own on-campus stabbing.
The administration is currently taking steps that are visible through out campus in hopes to ensure that what happened on our campus will never happen again and to preserve Cabrini’s pristine reputation.
Incidents like these across the country, but most importantly our own, have taught us that city or suburban school, $15,000 tuition or $35,000 tuition, the events that took place on the night of Spring Fling can happen anywhere. Catastrophes have no prejudice.
Cabrini has become a home away from home for so many student. No one should ever feel unsafe in their own home. Most importantly, we have learned that no matter how much cash you shell out for tuition, one can never put a price tag on safety. As President Iadorola said at the April 10 open forum, we are not a perfect community but we’re learning. Hopefully, we get it right soon before anymore casualties are taken.
Posted to the web by Shane Evans