Posts Tagged ‘Sexual assault’

Year in Review: Top Stories of 2010

I was reminded that it is time to take a look back when Marietta College posted their own Top 10 Stories list, so here they are…the 10 stories that received the most traffic on Writing on the Mall in 2010.

10 – Looking Back At Campus Flooding

This was the only story submitted by Tom Perry’s writing classes to make it to the Top 10.  Stacy Frederick did a great retrospective piece on the 2004 and 2005 floods.  The Ohio River went over its banks twice that year, flooding Marietta and the College in the process.  Frederick’s article had some great interviews with alumni and College officials, and shows the improvements made to the College’s flooding preparedness plans.

You can read that article here.

9 – Student Speak Out Coverage

Our Student Speak Out coverage was so popular this Fall that it actually crashed the site, which I was impressed by.  If you want to take a look back, here is the Spring 2010 and Fall 2010 live blog pages.  We will actually have our Top Questions from the Fall Student Speak Out here this week.

8 – Student Senate Posters Get Defaced

Maybe when I originally ran this story, it was a bit “Fox News”-ish.  But apparently readers wanted to hear about Student Senate candidate posters getting defaced.  The original story ran here.

Read more…

Brandon Marino Charged In '09 Sexual Assault Case

College Police Service Chief David Valkinburg announced today to the Marietta Times that an arrest has been made relating to last year’s sexual assault in Parsons Hall.

Brandon M. Marino, 23, was served with a warrant for his arrest on Wednesday in Hamilton County Jail, where he had been arrested on unrelated charges.  He was indicted on March 3rd for aggravated burglary and burglary, which is listed as a 2nd degree felony.  If found guilty of those charges, he could be sentenced to anywhere between 2 to 8 years in jail and up to $15,000 in fines.  Marino was held on $25,000 bond in that case, and was waiting for an April 2nd court date.

He now faces additional charges in Washington County, where he has been charged with rape and burglary.

The alleged sexual assault happened early February 28th, 2009 in the victim’s room at Parsons Hall.  Timely notification was sent out, and you can check out our previous coverage here.  The suspect had been spotted in Russell Hall earlier that day (night of Feb. 27th).  The incident led to security improvements at Parsons Hall, including recently installed security screens on first floor windows.

The article states that Marino was not a student of the college, but reading the 2007 Mariettana yearbook, was listed as being a member of the Class of 2010.  So the alleged attacker had attended school here.  The Times article also stated that Marino had been living in Marietta at the time of the incident.

The college had alerted students to the possibility of media coverage of the arrest in the following timely notification e-mail.

We wanted to inform you that there are likely to be media reports this afternoon or tomorrow that involves an update to an alleged incident on campus that was reported about a year ago. We wanted to share with you the College’s official statement with regard to these recent developments.

“Marietta College is aware of an arrest of a suspect in connection with the case of a sexual assault that took place on campus during the spring of 2009. Since then, much diligent and tireless investigative work has taken place and we are grateful for the ongoing energy and collaboration of our own Marietta College Police Department, Marietta City Police, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation & Identification. It is our most sincere hope that their efforts may ultimately provide closure for the survivor, the survivor’s family, and our campus community.”

Check out the Marietta Times Story for the full story.

Attempted Burglary at Parsons Hall Triggers Early Alert

Another semester, another Parsons Hall attempted burglary.

The Marietta College Campus Police Service issued an alert this morning at 6:30 AM to make students aware of the 4:45 AM incident.  The incident report sent to students describes an unknown person attempting to enter a student’s room.  The student awoke, startled the person, and they fled the scene.

We’ll try to get some reaction from students that live in Parsons.  For now, here’s the message sent out to students this morning.

In compliance with the Timely Notice provisions of the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998, Marietta College officials want to inform you that Marietta College police are investigating an attempted burglary that took place at approximately 4:45 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 10.

An unknown person attempted to enter a resident’s room at Parsons Hall. Before the suspect could gain entry into the room, the resident awoke and the suspect fled.

If anyone has any details please contact Marietta College Police at (740) 376-4611.

Previous troubles at Parsons Hall:

Media Coverage Continues on Sexual Assault
Update: Sexual Assault on Campus
Aggravated Burglary Triggers Campus Notification

Students Learn Self Defense

WTAP did a nice piece (Article and Video) on the new self-defense program that the college has developed.  They did some advertising for it in and around campus, but I jsut plain forgot to post it up.

The idea is to help women on campus learn ways to help protect themselves in case of an attack (primary method being run up and kick them in the shin, from what the video shows).  The course is currently only a beginner’s course, but more advanced classes may be offered in the future.  It’s also only for college students, but may be expanded to locals eventually.

After the sexual assault happened last month, the first thing I noticed is a lot of pepper spray getting added to girls keychains.  It’s a good thing to see that girls are helping protect themselves.  Always a reminder that Marietta has call boxes placed up and down the mall, outside most buildings, and near all parking lots.  If you ever feel uncomfortable, hit the red panic button and help will be on the way.  CPS also provides escorts if you feel uncomfortable walking across campus.  Escorts are free, so take advantage of the service.

Media Coverage Continues on Sexual Assault

Marietta Times and WTAP are now both covering the sexual assault case at the college.

More details have been released, including news that the suspect was sighted at Russell Hall earlier that night.  he apparently gained access to the building and came into contact with some of the residents (according to the linked Marietta Times article).

Past that, no new news.

Please lock all your doors, and don’t hold key-card guarded doors open for anybody.  Don’t walk alone at night and use Campus Police escort services (which are free to all college students).

Update: Sexual Assault on Campus

As many of you may have heard, there was a sexual assault on campus early Saturday morning.  Today, we learned that there was a second crime that happened involving the same suspect.  The notification of the incident is included after the jump, including steps that you can take to stay safe on campus.

The attacks appear to have taken place at Parsons Hall, which in my opinion in one of the worst secured buildings on campus.  You will always have a problem with tailgaters (which is what looks like the suspect’s means of entry), but when the entire first floor is open and un-protected without key-card access, there’s a problem.

The suspect is an African-American male, about 6 feet tall, in his early 20′s, with a muscular build.

Special kudos to the Marietta Times for combining their updated article with stories about the Dow Jones falling and another about the stimulus bill.  One would think an update about a sexual assault without a suspect behind bars would be, I don’t know, SLIGHTLY IMPORTANT.

Sympathy goes out to those affected by this idiot.  It is truly terrible for something like this to have happened.

Read more…

Midterms this week

Posting may be slow this week due to it being mid-terms and such, but I’ll try to keep everybody updated on news on the sexual assaults happening on campus.