By Robin Riskin 

A suspect has been identified in the Nov. 8 sexual assault case on Haverford’s campus, Director of Bi-College Safety Tom King told The Bi-College News Saturday. King said the suspect is not affiliated with Haverford but “not a complete stranger” either.

King said the suspect currently poses “absolutely no threat to the community” in an email sent Friday evening to the student body. 

“People are gonna have to trust that we wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true,” he said.

Township police Sgt. Shant Bedrossian said he could not comment on whether or not there has been an arrest, because the investigation is ongoing. He did say the general rule is that when an arrest is made, that becomes public information.

He declined to tell The Bi-Co if the suspect has been detained or arrested, how sure he is that police identified the correct suspect, how the suspect knew anybody from the college, or if the suspect is from the area.

Bryn Mawr Hospital reported to the Haverford Township police department at 1:30 p.m. on November 9 that a Haverford student was raped the prior day, said Bedrossian. The incident occurred between midnight and 8 a.m. in the Integrated Natural Sciences Center, according to college Safety and Security.

Bedrossian said the hospital reported the incident as a rape and the Haverford Township police blotter classified the incident as rape, while the Haverford College security briefs classified the incident as forcible rape. Bedrossian said the township police are now considering the incident a sexual assault, and all college communication with the student body has called the incident a sexual assault.

In a November 9 email to the student body, King described the suspect as a college-age, athletic-looking white male around 6 feet tall. He possibly had brown hair and was wearing a plain shirt, green hat and possibly green shorts.

“We do know it was related to the [Club Neon] party [in Gummere Basement],” said Students’ Council Co-President Will Harrison ‘10.

“It wasn’t someone studying,” neither the perpetrator nor the victim, Will Harrison said in response to student concerns about studying in the INSC.

There is a “distinct possibility” that a date rape drug was used, or that the girl had been drinking someone else’s drink that was “more than vodka, or more vodka than it should’ve been,” King said at a forum for student leaders Wednesday.

“I heard that it started at Gummere and that it involved something with the girl’s drink, that it got spiked or something,” said Elena Svenson ’13.

Indeed, the assailant “wasn’t somebody lurking in the bushes, it was somebody at a party,” King said at the forum.

Two Quaker Bouncers had been roaming Gummere Basement during the Club Neon party, but they had not been asked to check for tri-co IDs. Any person able to get inside Gummere could have attended the party.

Sam Blau ’12, who was bouncing that night and is also on the Bouncer Board, said he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary or an unusual number of off-campus students.

Matt Millemann ’12, one of the hosts of the party sponsored by “the lacrosse team and friends,” said they had never had Quaker Bouncers at a party of theirs before, but they liked trying the idea at the Club Neon party. Instead of doing “100 percent” their first time, they decided to just have bouncers roam downstairs and outside the party, not scan IDs.

“Everyone was upset and very sorry [when they heard about the incident],” Millemann said. “We felt terrible for the girl. It’s not an email I expected to ever receive.”

King wouldn’t comment on how the victim got from Gummere Basement to the INSC. A Haverford OneCard would have been necessary to get inside the INSC. The college can track OneCard usage, but King refused to comment on whether the victim’s own OneCard was used that night or if it was someone else’s.

“Security of the building was not a factor,” King told The Bi-Co.

It is unknown where in the INSC the assault occurred.

“I know there was a security guard randomly up in the 3rd level [of the INSC] Monday,” Svenson said.

This reporter saw township Patrolman John Hawke and a college security officer posted outside the INSC Chemistry Lounge for several hours on November 9, starting around 3:30 p.m. They were not allowed to release any information as to why they were there. The room looked empty from outside with the exception of the couches and tables normally present and a roll of caution tape lying on a table.

Many students are surprised that such an incident could occur at Haverford.

“Roofied, really? I just feel like that’s never something that would happen here,” said Christina Bradley ’12. “But at the same time, it just shows us that we need to be more aware that things can happen at Haverford, we need to look out for one another more."

Sarah Andrade ‘12 was nervous about the fact that it happened in the INSC, since the building requires key card access.

"She would either need to have let [the assaulter] in, or he would need to know how our school works," she said.

Others believe the sexual assault won’t have broad ramifications.

“I don’t think it’s really changed anything,” said Liz Coward ’12. “It hasn’t changed the way I feel about Haverford at all, because the main person involved was not from Haverford.”

Kylie Lipinski ’12 doesn’t feel her safety is threatened.

“I saw it more as an isolated event,” she said.

Kat Wiley ’12 wasn’t sure how to feel because of how little information students have received.

“I’ve talked to my freshmen about it and they don’t even know what happened,” she said.

Ben Porten ’12 was surprised at the lack of concern.

“I thought the disparity between the student body’s reaction at the nature trail and at this incident was peculiar,” he said. A student alleged in April that she was raped on the nature trail, but she retracted her claim two days later and police suspended the investigation.

“There was a much stronger vocal response [to the alleged Nature Trail rape]—stuff in the DC, all those signatures to show solidarity, and the Women’s Center did a healing circle,” said Porten. “For this, there was a thread on the ACBs [online Anonymous Confessions Boards] and that was about it.”

The Women’s Center is not holding any events in direct response to the assault to respect the victim’s privacy, said staff member Annie Tague ’10. The survivor has not contacted them, and “unless the survivor contacts us as staff directly, then we are not in contact with them.”

“We don’t impose ourselves,” explained staff member Misha Baker ’10.

She said that their response to this assault has been more private than it was to the nature trail incident, when the Center held a public forum, because "this recent event…is being handled more privately" by the student body and the administration.

However, the Women’s Center is holding Speakout Wednesday, a Quaker-style safe space to speak about rape and sexual assault.

“We’re not doing it in response [to the assault], it just happens to be [scheduled already],” said staff member Cara Curtis ’10.

“I think it will serve as the perfect space for the community to come together,” said Tague.

The administration wouldn’t say much about the current sate of the victim.

“We do know where the student is and the student is functional, but that’s pretty much all we can say,” said Martha Denney, Dean of the College.

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