At least four "incidents of intolerance" committed on campus this fall - including a sexual assault against a woman on Professors Row, a racially-motivated assault against a Caribbean student, a threatening e-mail sent to an Indian student, and homophobic graffiti written on walls in South Hall - have elicited a solemn letter from Dean of Students Bruce Reitman.
Reitman called on the Tufts community to "be aware of what has taken place" and "do whatever we can to make Tufts a place where everyone feels safe." No suspects have been identified in any of the incidents, partly because all were reported some time after they occurred, according to Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) Captain Mark Keith.
"On a college campus, you would hope that students would respect one another," said Keith, who encourages all students to call the TUPD immediately if they see any form of "harassment, physical confrontation, or suspicious individuals."
Keith said that while such incidents are not reported very often, the TUPD has a much better chance of identifying the perpetrators when someone calls immediately after they occur and gives a description of the suspects.
"It's so important to get that initial call to us and have us respond to the area," Keith said. "The sooner we get to the area, the better chance we have of identifying any suspects." He added that clothing descriptions, which are often very effective in identifying suspects on the scene, are useless the next day. "A [vague] description might fit half the people on campus," he said.
In the first incident, which took place shortly before the start of classes, a group of male students sexually assaulted a female student on Professors Row in front of Health Services. One of the males, whom the victim identified as a "drunk freshman," approached her and proceeded to make sexual comments, grab her hands and breasts, and slap her buttocks.
"He threw his arms around me and started humping me," said the student, who wished to remain anonymous. "He unzipped his fly, put his hand in his pants, and tried to get me to feel him. Then he slapped me really hard on the butt."
"Something was really wrong with what he did. I chose to take Professors Row home because I knew that there would be a lot of people there. I usually cut across Fletcher Field," she said.
The second incident, in which a Caribbean student was knocked to the ground and kicked in the head, took place on Sawyer Avenue near the beginning of the year. Friends of the victim, who was treated in the hospital for head wounds, did not report the altercation until an hour after it occurred, and the suspects, who hurled anti-Asian epithets at the victim, had already fled the scene.
"There was a phone not more than 75 feet away," Keith said. He went on to encourage students to push the "panic button" on campus phones when they witness something happening, even if they don't remain on the scene. "You don't even have to stay there, we respond to all of those," he said.
The third investigation, which is still underway, involves an e-mail sent to an Indian student "that contained many derogatory and insulting remarks about his ethnic background." Since the message was sent from an off-campus account, the University has had difficulty identifying the sender. The TUPD is currently working with both the administration and the city of Somerville to subpoena electronic records from the e-mail provider that might help to identify any suspects.
"It is unsettling and unacceptable that these incidents occurred in our community," Reitman said in the letter. "Our safety depends on each of us being vigilant about intruders or members of the community who pose a danger to others." He went on to encourage students with information on any of these crimes to tell the Dean of Students office, the TUPD, or their residential staff.
