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Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,240
Registered: ‎05-11-2010

Did anyone watch Monday night episode of Dateline. It was the story of Lauren McCluskey. She was a student at University of Utah.

 

A heart breaking story, the school police let this young lady down. To then see the woman who was speaking for the school at the end was so frustrating. She said they did nothing wrong. And some of the campus police involved were given awards. I said to my husband, AWARDS! for what? One was given an award for escorting her to get her car, the 911 operator got an award for basically taking the call!

    

 

 

  

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,755
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

I was appalled by the inaction of the campus police. She reached out to them so many times and they did nothing except help her get her car back. I hate to say it, but I hope her parents are suing the school/police. They need to, not that it will bring back their daughter, but to make a point. I feel so sorry for them. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,837
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I couldn't believe how they blew her off saying it was all a scam.  They did nothing to help her except escort her to her car.  I didn't like after the report came out (from the FBI?) and the school spokesperson publicly announced that it said they did everything they could. It actually gave 30 things they should have done differently.  

 

I also didn't understand why the real police couldn't help her when the University police wouldn't.


The Bluebird Carries The Sky On His Back"
-Henry David Thoreau





Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,725
Registered: ‎10-01-2013

The University of Utah should be ashamed. They ignored the cries of this young lady and I hope no one gives money to their school. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,916
Registered: ‎05-10-2010

I was appalled, angry, sad, disgusted and confused.   Yes, indeed, that school let her down to level of being complicit in her murder.  But the local police also let her down.  They should have at least made a call to the campus police to get details and ask what they were doing to help that girl and perhaps to offer some advice.  All they did was bounce her back to the campus police.  I don't know how much the parents knew about what was going on, as it was happening, but she really was just a kid.  Her tone and demeanor during all the calls was too low key, because as a kid, she didn't know how to demand that someone listen to her.  It surprised me that as the situation spun out of control and she received NO help from the campus police that she didn't pack up and go home.  My own daughter was in "mean girls" situation her freshman year of college, she was bullied and harrassed and the college couldn't help her in any way.  It was terrible for her.  She got through that first semester, packed up and came home because the bullying was not going to stop so she had to remove herself from it.  After that my husband worked with the school to establish some safety measures so that she could take a semester off and then return.    If you know your college aged kid is in trouble, as a parent, you have to step in.  Of course, that's assuming you know what's going on.  As for the awards.  That was like dancing on that girl's grave.  I absolutely could not believe they would give awards to the people who failed her so badly.  Awards....for just doing their jobs?  Unbelievable.  However, I think that was must to "make nice" with the campus police police.  A move to publicly say  "we don't care what happened, we support you".   

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,665
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I agree that university was negligent.  I work at a (currently) non-residential college, and I can tell you they would never put up with any student mistreatment or even discrimination at this campus.  As employees, we are constantly being trained and retrained to recognize and react to all sorts of issues that could arise (not just the campus police, but ALL the employees).

Laura loves cats!
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,567
Registered: ‎09-15-2016

A very sad story...a naive young women that never dated meets a man working at a bar, calls him her boyfriend in a week, he basically lives in her dorm room in 2 weeks & then she discovers he lied about his name & age, has a criminal record so she takes action to get him out of her life but he won't go. Sadly the police can only act if life is threatened & it wasn't but they dropped the ball with the gun info, blackmail emails & not checking to see if he was on parole. I understand that the police & university aren't babysitters but they had a responsibility to do more....she called & called for help, she followed up with her case, & all her requests were reasonable. Her parents seemed so naive too, I have no idea why they didn't do more...why did they assume someone else would protect her, why didn't she go home until something was done about him & why in the world was she walking alone. It's pretty stunning that her friends recognized her dire circumstances & all of those that should have didn't.