By Nick Jacques, News Staff
Following a historic trial, Tyler Clementi’s tormentor is going to prison. Colleges and universities now need to take steps to ensure a case like this never comes up again.
Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, was convicted of 15 charges – most significantly, invasion of privacy and bias intimidation – and sentenced to 30 days in prison for using a webcam to spy on and humiliate Clementi while he was intimate with a man in their Rutgers University dorm room. Clementi killed himself by jumping off the George Washington Bridge shortly after the 2010 incident.
Our society is quickly moving in the right direction on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues and equality. President Obama recently became the first president in United States history to endorse same-sex marriage. In eight years since Massachusetts became the first state to recognize it, six states now allow same-sex marriage, and laws have been passed in two additional states but have yet to go into effect.
Unfortunately, the harsh truth is that no matter how far our society evolves there will still be hate, there will still be bigots and there will still be people who just don’t understand. Frequent incidents in the news are a chilling reminder of this. Unfortunately it only takes one of these people, such as Ravi, to ruin someone’s life.
While schools may not be able to stop hatred, they should provide more resources and services to help LGBT students combat it.
An important detail in the tragic case of Clementi is that he was a freshman. He killed himself on Sept. 22, just weeks after starting school. The transition into college can be a stressful, difficult and possibly painful time for any student. Had Clementi been settled into school and established a new life with close friends and strong relationships, this story may have had a better ending. Unfortunately, not many students establish such relationships by their third week of school.
In September 2010, the same month Clementi killed himself, writer and advice columnist Dan Savage launched the “It Gets Better” campaign to “show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach.” Colleges and universities should make a similar effort to show incoming freshmen, many of whom may have been bullied in high school and are hoping for a better experience in college, that it will get better – even if they end up with a Dharun Ravi as a roommate.
We are all lucky to attend a school that is as open and accepting as Northeastern. Last winter, the campus united in opposition to a Chick-Fil-A location opening on campus, because the corporation had made donations to anti-gay groups. According to the Student Life website, Northeastern has gender-neutral housing and “wide-spread support” for our LGBT community. There is also a resource room in Curry Student Center for LGBT students, and the blog “NEUnited,” run by students and alumni provides additional support.
Regardless of the level of support in place, this an area in which the administration could always do more. When I was covering the Chick-Fil-A scandal for The News, I spoke with several LGBT students who were not satisfied with the administration’s relationship with their community. Several students specifically expressed frustration with the administration’s response to requests for an LGBT center, although the request was eventually met.
While the administration has come a long way in recent years, it should still work to improve its relationship with the LGBT community. It should start with providing extra support to incoming freshmen with outreach programs aimed at helping new LGBT students feel welcome and build relationships.
Northeastern is a school with a wonderful community, but unfortunately it only took one bad egg to cause the tragedy at Rutgers. The administration at Northeastern should lead the way so the community can work together to prevent a bigot like Dharun Ravi from making his or her mark on our campus.
