The College Fix

A tall brunette male allegedly choked a girl in a LGBT pride shirt

The investigation into an alleged LGBT hate crime at the University of Maine is at a standstill, six weeks after the incident reportedly first occurred.

“A tall white guy with short brown hair grabbed my friend from behind and choked her and called her a dyke for wearing a pride shirt,” an anonymous report to the university’s Campus Eyes program said. “He ran away from the scene after people appeared in the mall. My friend was alone at the time when the crime happened.”

The incident allegedly occurred at the public university’s main campus in Orono.

The police report, obtained through a public record request, shows the incident alert came in at 5:48 pm on September 2. Campus Eyes is not supposed to be used for emergencies, according to the university website.

“Please note this e-mail is NOT monitored continuously!” the campus police department says. It tells people to call the department of 9-1-1 immediately when they observe something happening.

“Officers did respond to the scene, but found nothing,” spokesperson Nina Lavoie told The College Fix in early October when asked for an update on the investigation into the alleged incident. She confirmed on October 11 that there has been no further update on the investigation.

“The security cameras in the area were reviewed, but nothing was observed,” Lavoie said on October 1. “There are no suspects at this time. Unless UMPD receives further information, the investigation cannot progress.”

The alleged victim has also not filed a police report.

“The only report to UMPD was made anonymously through Campus Eyes,” Lavoie said.

Alleged victim walked ‘alone’ on ‘busiest part of campus’

The report said the alleged victim “was alone,” but a student told the campus paper that the University Mall, where the alleged hate crime occurred, is busy at that time.

“They shouldn’t have told us not to walk alone when this attack happened at 5 p.m. on the busiest part of campus,” Camryn Chick told the Maine Campus. Students felt that safety tips sent out from school officials, which encouraged students to stay near other people to protect themselves, were inappropriate.

Chick instead suggested that the school ban all white men with brown hair from campus until the perpetrator is brought to justice. “Don’t accept these kinds of people into this school,” Chick said. “Don’t let the [violent] tall white men with brown hair described in this email walk free.”

The public university’s diversity office said the school needs to do more about stopping LGBT hate on campus. The staff associate for the diversity team did not respond to two requests in the past two weeks from The College Fix that asked for help in connecting with the alleged victim.

“The reality is, acts like this happen because we as a community allow them to,” Rob Jackson told the campus paper. Jackson is the staff associate for diversity and inclusion.

The Fix asked if Jackson had received any other updates on the alleged crime.

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IMAGE: The College Fix; University of Maine

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