Im sad to hear about his victim, especially since I had a similar experience with a non-Catholic pastor. I left the church partially because of this problem (and several other more severe issues). Respectfully, I must disagree with your recollection . They should be paying me for the therapy I need, not the other way around. From day one, the men of this campus are filled with a joy in being a gentleman to every girl. Most of secular culture righteously denounces rape, and praises consent. Catholics are sinners just like everyone else. I went to a small Catholic school in the 80s and knew all students there did not live up to the standards of the college or the faith. I currently attend Christendom. Christendom College. The students views, whether they arrived with them or picked them up at Christendom, were wildly sexist both men and women. The first amendment offers incredible protections for shoddy journalism like this piece offers. Shes taken a lot of crap from that quarter and it would be a misuse of her great gift of writing to use it as payback. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. How can a school prevent a student from going off campus to rape another? Students who go to remote areas are by-passing safe, public places where they could engage in the PDA behavior you complain is banned on campus. Christendom College admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It isnt nebulous. 2023 Christendom College. 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. Recently, one of the priests who was a major force on campus has charged with rape of a mentally-ill woman. It felt like a never ending guilt trip. Lol, they arent bound by such conventions! It does truly permeate the campus. I wonder what people do with degrees from schools like Christendom. There were crazy people, there were priests who dispensed truly awful guidance in spiritual direction. Additionally, throwing out names of administrators and teachers as part of this story (good or bad) without their permission taints their reputation. Next came many months of frustration for the Smith family. 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. All I can say is, be happy the shackles are gone. A male Residence Life staff member also lives on campus to assist the men. Smith does not remember getting dressed after the rape. Banning them from living on campus and allowing a professor to shelter them does not protect other students. Most couples are friends of other couples and all hang out together both on campus and off campus. Lets embrace it. Within a month of the fundraiser's launch, roughly 70%, or $28 million, had been raised for the campaign. Openly. Second, I havent seen any evidence in this article or in Christendoms response that the accused was placed before college authorities and questioned regarding the incident. No means no. He RETIRED a year or so ago. In 2021[46] and 2022,[47] the men's rugby team also received the #1 national ranking from National Collegiate Rugby. It also unfortunately means this creep will probably try it again with another girl. However, then the college has to be careful not to be encouraging a back seat car scenario in their recreation rooms. I was working maintenance as a student between the times of these incidents. There was always a (subtle enough that it could be gaslighted away if you tried to talk about it) sense that women just dont matter as much at Christendom. I didnt feel like the article clearly painted a picture of how she was personally treated poorly. While I fully believe her narrative is true, its not unreasonable to also suppose that a college would have to do a kind of balancing act where legal authorities are absent. No, it takes opening a word document and writing it up: Dont rape people.. [38], Christendom College has two schools offering graduate and undergraduate degrees. Are you saying that campus security police are supposed to be policing the town? It was the same with the guys open house, except theyd have TVs and video games. She returned the car to her friend, went back to her dorm, sat down in the shower fully clothed, and cried. Smith continued to call the school after graduation to see if they had changed the policy. It seems to me that men who lure women into back seats of cars in secluded places would have an even easier time saying Hey, come up to my room to watch a movie. With the roommate being already asked to give them privacy. The College is actually small enough, and physically remote from the built-up town center, that it is more ignored than anything. She said, Im not comfortable with that, and he said, Okay.. Before I went to Christendom I was the head of my diocesan youth council, so to say I was active in my faith was an understatement. Whose testimony is more consistent and believable? the Administration could and should have done better here. National Congress On The Word Of God: A Two-Edged Sword By WILLIAM H. MARSHNER. It must have been completely devastating. He said she noticed a change in her, and wanted her to know he was there to help her if she wanted to talk. are not understanding anything entirely, except this article provides good understanding yet. They can work *with* local law enforcement, but thats as far as it goes, because theyre federal. 237: Creative naan compliance, Special Valentines FREE Episode: 20 things we hated about FIREPROOF, Protected: Podcast #65: Sometimes goat is just not GOAT. Our countrys policies right now generally say yes for potential terrorists, but no for potential rapists. They could end abortion, and poverty, and racism, and poor educational opportunities, and lack of jobs, and poor housing, and nepotism in the local government, and drug use among teens, and unresponsive bureaucracies, and lousy healthcare in the local hospital, and the high cost of medicine locally, and the massive local traffic jams on peepers weekends. The college also acquired the Notre Dame Institute during O'Donnell's tenure. 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. Out of curiosity, why did they choose to single out Christendom of all places? His punishment: He could not live on campus for one semester, and he could not contact Adele Smith. Students werent forced off campus to have sex; they always found some place to do it, even if it was in a medieval dungeon. If some believe that our efforts and policies have failed to bring justice to their particular situations, please understand that despite being fallen human beings, the faculty and staff do their very best every day to provide a just and safe environment. A school cannot beyond a shadow of a doubt prevent rape, but you can reduce the risk of it, and one of the key arguments in this piece is that excessively strict PDA rules result in private, remote areas being the normal location for healthy romantic affection. ' into the handbook. How about holding the US Government responsible since theyre the ones that oversee Skyline? Instaurare Omnia in Christo! The college now employs more than 40 full-time faculty members,[16] compared to the original five, along with a number of adjunct members. That sounds like quite the emotional roller coaster. The guilt I still carry from a year there was crushing - it was constant write ups for dress code, curfew violations because of my off campus job etc. Imply that there is a pattern and that the pattern is indicative of the current campus environment. I went there to study with him, not go to Franciscan so much. [13], Since 1992, student enrollment has grown from 144 undergraduates to nearly 550 students, not including graduate school students. College disciplinary boards, however, can set whatever standards they want, especially a completely independent institution like Christendom. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. And your describing it as such in the comments on a piece about rape is insulting and denigrating. Are you comfortable with men being expelled if there is no convincing evidence either way, a he-said, she-said situation? I remember him once going on a rant about how tattoos are marks of psychological disorder and moral perversion. Smith and her family were floored. But is it really fair to expect men to navigate all the mixed signals? Luckey also has no prior criminal record, the judge added. She fled to her dorm and went to bed. The wonderful thing is that in America there are thousands of schools that allow all of those things. They know they are not as upstanding as they would like. Kissing allowed. Use your words to express the difficulty of what you are feeling. Christendom College was gestated in the womb of, Student sexual assault and harassment allegations, Christendom College Graduate School of Theology, See Ibby Caputo and Jon Marcus, "The Controversial Reason Some Religious Colleges Forgo Federal Funding,", The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, The John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, The Founding, the Building, and the Glory of Christendom College, "A History of Christendom College | Christendom College", "About Federal Funding | Christendom College", ":: Christendom College News and Events:: The Origins of Christendom College", "Rankings & Endorsements | Christendom College", "A Catholic university providing undergraduate and graduate degrees in a vibrantly Catholic environment | Franciscan University of Steubenville", "Christendom Launches 45th Anniversary Year with Record Enrollment", "Christendom Defies National Enrollment Trend, Implements Waiting List", "Undergraduate Faculty | Christendom College", "White House 'College Scorecard' shuts out conservative schools", "Christendom College to Dedicate New Chapel Next April", "Pope St. John Paul II Meets with Christendom College", "The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College", "Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivers the commencement address at Christendom College", https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/the-controversial-reason-some-religious-colleges-forgo-federal-funding/490253/, "Are women safe in Christendom's bubble? As a Catholic, I would imagine you agree that there are actions that are not criminal but that are still wrong. Assuming the research you have done here is all reported accurately (which the college disputes), it doesnt exactly make the place a hot-bed of sexual assaults and sexual harassment issues. The teacher gave the class a hypothetical example of a young man and woman who were dating and decided to go off campus to Skyline Drive. How unromantic! I think both sexes can rise to a greater standard. If you admit to being a feminist, well, you might as well admit to worshipping Baal. But thats not entirely relevent here. The school promised to conduct a complete and careful investigation.. This actually hurts good people doing their best to make the world a better place every day. You shooting in the dark hoping to hit a target, isnt helping. The fact that a rapist actually had to go off school grounds to do such a thing says a lot about how the school conducts itself. Up until that point, I considered myself fairly knowledgeable, she said. The idea of being torn apart in court by someone with a law degree, and it being in the paper, was too much for me to imagine. Clearly, both the young man and the young woman had people on their side who believed one person over the other in this he-said-she-said situation. If you presume that because Catholic teaching is against rape, that must mean that theyre able to appropriately address rape allegations, I think the fault is in your expectation and the reality of the situation, but not the school itself. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window). On the other hand, you encouraged us to hate ourselves and hate the world around us in pursuit of an impossible, harmful ideal, an ideal which crumbled whenever it met reality. You use false logic and your pen is sadly misdirected this time. So this rape would not have occurred if the dorms were mixed gender? I didnt know about consent because, in my world, good Christian girls and boys were supposed to never have anything bad happen to them that was what happened to so-called sinful, unChristian people. That is degrading to both sexes. None of us were involved in the off campus drinking by the riveras were all the Trad kidsand no doubt the sexual assault that went with it. All it did was push people into secret places where chastity was more in danger. Today a new wave of aggressive secularism is attempting to sweep away the roots and reasons for your faith. The naivete, the cringey talks, and oppressive atmosphere. How come more worldly girls get raped too?Even from your writing it seems that Christendom did stand up from inside when Miss Smith felt comfortable telling her Theology! Now though, I can confidently say I turned it around. We should demand it be better. Glad to hear everyone still hates those fountains. It is not the victims terrible story that we dont believe, it is just the illogical conclusions that the author jumps to and the careless damage she is causing that are wrong. ok, but what evidence did the college have that he did? Consent is only nebulous when you refuse to take responsibility for yourself. Christendom College, a small, Catholic, liberal arts school in Front Royal Virginia, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. You described an inability or unwillingness to use your words to say, this is hard, but Im saying no! The students arent punished for drinking off campus, they are punished for being drunk ON campus. Dont deny the bad, but try to find the good. 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. And, as I said, they were more balanced than the others. It would do a lot to restore peoples faith in the institution. Funding for the creation of this archive was generously provided by Christendom College. We would like to apologize to any of those in our community who feel they were not properly responded to concerning an alleged sexual harassment and assault. I would go down the road to the convenience store, and hed be sitting outside, and I couldnt walk in. And all the fancy words you use cant hide that. are honey nut cheerios high in oxalates. . Shes a hater. Oh ladies, Im so sorry you had to deal with that attitude for any length of time. Ive never read porn, eeek! A week later, in a letter dated May 23, 2011, President ODonnell responded. The problems with rape at Christendom are the problems with rape anywhere. Outrage, anger and sadness swept across the city as elected officials processed the racist . If law enforcement is not protecting its students (or at least diligently investigating student claims of assault), Christendom should be making a great effort to effect change. No does not mean yes. No doesnt mean I still want to. It was up to me to avoid him, she said. by | Oct 29, 2021 | peter hughes escape to the country | pinocchio's london road sheffield menu | Oct 29, 2021 | peter hughes escape to the country | pinocchio's london road sheffield menu And it is these serious issues which led the Fishers to dedicate a great deal of time and energy into researching and writing this article. This is a good thing. I cant think of anything more serious than that, thats shy of expulsion. Please refrain from proselytizing to members of this community. [32] As a result, a group of alumni called for the school to adopt Title IX policies to better protect students in the future and also called for the resignation of O'Donnell. This is still America. Their donations requests are a joke. The reality is men can say no, men can control their actions and they are humans with free will. Misogyny is woven deep into the schools culture. The school does not accept federal funding. I am astounded that the article says rapist rather than alleged rapist. Christendom doesnt have anything like that. I have been to Front Royal many times and it has LOTS of cafes. What is to blame there?? You spoke to the parents of the graduating students gathered there of the profound sense of responsibility you felt of acting in loco parentis for our children and your gratitude that we, as their parents, had entrusted our children to you . A recent blog, which contains misleading information and serious inaccuracies, was posted about Christendom College. Which means, of course, he may very well have done it again. Thats pretty horrific behavior in Catholic men at a Catholic institution. [19], Christendom College has received notable attention from members of the Catholic Church since its founding in 1977, including from Pope John Paul II. Theyre usually published in any article Ive ever read regarding assault. To think that anyone could do that to such a young child is eye-opening indeed, and helpful to know for those of us raising kids to know what to beware of. He further harassed her, had told several of his friends that she had seduced him. Same sex dorms is considered strict segregation? It is this faith that has been the guiding beacon during some difficult and seemingly hopeless times, even when I had turned my heart against Him and turned my back on [faith]. we could! People will actually believe this ludicrous drivel. Ive always thought that would be delightful and I graduated in 2000 from Christendom. The Churchs teaching on this, particularly Pope John Paul II really upholds a woman in her own right and this was taught quite clearly at Christendom. Why not with the rape? By whose definition are they adults? Its not completely new to me, since Gasp! The message delivered was clear, according to Smith. 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. I always find it interesting they always try to punish students for drinking off campus, if you come back to campus drunk, Smith said. We should not be complacent about it failing students in such gross ways. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Obviously they wouldnt escort us if we wanted to, say, walk across the road to Notre Dame, because that was going outside the campus bounds, but there was a nice shuttle bus system running between SMC and Notre Dame. Its handling of the case may not have been malicious, but it was certainly pusillanimous. Despite those inaccuracies, the hearts and prayers of our entire Christendom College community go out to all involved in the incidents described and to anyone who may be a victim of sexual harassment or assault. I attended Steubie in the mid 2000s. i was so unhappy my freshman year, couldnt understand why and decided i needed to study abroad in austria to fix myself. LEARN MORE. Thanks for sharing your experience. O.o. [14] The school has also broken enrollment goals and records numerous years in a row, defying declining higher education enrollment trends across the United States. It can, however, cost people their livelihoods and smear the reputation of people and universities. When I approached President ODonnel about it, I was stone-walled. That would have at least been SOMETHING besides heresay. For example, the articke states that Prof. Marshner no longer works at the school, as if he left due to this scenario. And yet, with your ability to judge her soul, you dont know why That is mysterious indeed. If it was patently false, the college would have grounds for a law suit. At that point, he does not see the difference between this no and that one. What exactly did you expect to happen, or could have happened? Protected: Podcast 23: Look at that s car go! All PDA-rule-free. i left the Catholic Church a couple years later and now have a useless Theology degree (imagine what I could have spent the money on instead xD) but at least im happy and living my life freely! Having the campus always on lockdown? The River and the drinking that occurs there is an open secret that the administration is aware of. Christendom College. There is a problem when Hollywood is doing a better job, and that problem deserves a discussion. . I really, really hope that she isnt approaching her stories with a big chip on her shoulder towards anything conservative Catholic. How can young people be prepared to succeed and keep the Faith in such a world? Accountability, yes, definitely. My legs were tightly closed. I wasn't really prepared for the amount of raw heresy I was surrounded with. Now that everyone has cellphones, it would be cool if the school set up a service where you could text for a pickup if youre in trouble for instance if youre at a party where youre being pressured to drink, or alone in a car with a pushy guy. Smith thinks he might have been trying to make it appear that she was the one who assaulted him. Perhaps could have been goaded into admitting he forced her against her will via text if tweeked in the right way. Simcha, Im not quite sure what any of the rape allegations have to do with Christendom College. It specifically mentions witnesses. The fact that they used a separate situation to impose a restriction on him should give you a sense of how they had to act within their own evidentiary boundaries to avoid being sued. Absolutely, but leaders have to weigh the pros and cons, of which there are many, and seek the greater good. Oops. Instead, youre put into remote, isolated areas where things can get out of hand.. #3. But their response was not a legal cease and desist, or demand of retraction. They had to drive. Any student can stroll on the public road or in the neighborhood across the street nonPDA world, let alone the town, or the rest of the known world. In 2018, while delivering the Commencement Address for Christendom, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said, This is a wonderful, wonderful, college a decidedly Catholic college, and I am decidedly and unapologetically Catholic. 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 . One professor was quite emphatic than women are less rational, and when I got upset about that well, naturally he put that down to my lack of rationality, plus perhaps a dash of pride. [2] Carroll, who was a contributor at L. Brent Bozell Jr.'s Triumph magazine, decided to found Christendom in the aftermath of the Land O' Lakes conference in 1967. Drove, Juana. I'd imagine that (patriarchal misognynists being patriarchal misogynists) the experience would've been a lot worse for those folks. Again, every college in America that has less strict PDA rules (nearly every college in America) has rape. But Jenislawski was the first one who made her feel like the rape wasnt her fault. Was there ever a police report filed? It seems to me that thats why they hit him with that. Because if there were no chastity policy, people wouldnt be pushed into secret places andcould be openly unchaste. Mr. Dorman showed no apparent interest in pursuing any sort of investigation, Scott Smith wrote. Think of roofies, frat parties, binge drinking..Im not going to go on, except to say that these dont exist here and if thats the bubble then Hallelujah. . It was usually fairly evident who those people were and if you didnt want trouble, you stayed out of their circle. It sounds from the way the witnesses say he behaved that this guy probably is a sociopath and I believe probably did rape her. Not sure you thought through what you wrote at all and how that would affect rape victims. 2023 Christendom College. Take a second to support simchajfisher on Patreon! ), 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.