“The severity of the sanctions should make it clear that we have taken these cases very seriously and that we will not tolerate behaviors and actions antithetical to our community values,’’ college president William D. Adams said in a Jan. 12 e-mail to students and staff. “I want to assure you all that our process was exhaustive, complex, and fair - conducted without prejudgment of the outcome.’’
Citing federal privacy regulations, Colby administrators declined to identify the students involved or disclose details of what took place, beyond saying that a student contacted college authorities on Nov. 6 alleging that “some members of our community have violated Colby’s sexual misconduct policy.’’
Still, administrations at the private college tried to keep the tight-knit student body of 1,800 in Waterville, Maine, informed about the situation, which many students were talking about almost instantly. Adams sent an “Official Notice’’ to students and staff within days of the incident. It was followed soon after by a two-hour campus-wide forum, with more to come.
While school administrators won’t divulge information that could identify students, the student newspaper, The Colby Echo, reported that members of the football team were among those implicated.
During the first campus forum, Laura Maloney, co-president of the Student Government Association, referenced an e-mail the association sent in response to the allegations. A subsequent article in the student newspaper quoted from that e-mail: “In light of recent pending allegations, we can no longer justify the buses to the football game. . . . We cannot support students who may have acted in a blatant breach of our values of a community.’’
Michael Kiser, Colby’s vice president of communications, said the school’s priority was to let students know that the college has a clearly outlined sexual misconduct policy and “reassuring students that, one, we were aware of the allegations; and two, we were in the beginning stages of a really exhaustive and aggressive investigation.’’
