Worst of Western world’s atrocities on new incoming students at a Canadian University
The University of Western Ontario is reeling after a first-year student died of his injuries following an early-morning assault and police opened a separate investigation into social-media reports of young women being drugged and subject to sexual violence at a university residence.
Gabriel Neil, 18, died in hospital on Sunday after an assault early Saturday near campus in London, Ont. A 21-year-old male has been charged with manslaughter. In an e-mail Monday, a London Police spokesperson said that assault was not believed to be connected to the allegations of sexual violence at a campus residence this weekend.
Allegations of sexual violence at a Friday night gathering at Medway-Sydenham Hall, a campus student residence, circulated on TikTok and Twitter in recent days. Western administrators and police in London said they had not received any reports of such incidents and appealed for people to come forward with information.
London police said they are aware of information circulating on social media, and that based on the seriousness of the allegations, they had opened an investigation. Since students returned to campus last week, Western said it has received four complaints of sexual violence. None are believed to be connected, nor are they tied to the allegations that emanated this weekend from Medway-Sydenham Hall.
In recent years, efforts to eliminate campus sexual violence have been cast in a spotlight as research has shown that women of university age are at high risk of assault, particularly in the first weeks after arriving on campus.
Chris Alleyne, interim associate vice-president for student experience at Western, said the university is “troubled and worried” by this weekend’s reports of alleged assaults.
“We’re working really hard to clarify and confirm the information. But so far, we’ve received very little information related to these reports. So we’re asking our students and campus community to come forward with any details,” Mr. Alleyne said in an interview, adding that the university was committed to working with police.
The allegations first came to the attention of the university officials via rumours picked up by campus residence staff on Saturday, Mr. Alleyne said. That same evening, an employee sent an e-mail to students in residence asking people to come forward, offering assistance and wanting to ensure that anyone who had been hurt could seek help.
Those efforts continued Monday, but the university still had not received any response to its request for information on the alleged incidents. The university said it had stepped up security in residences and had counsellors, including experts in gender-based violence, on site to assist students.