On Monday, September 30, students and faculty were shocked by a news article from the Rutland Herald and posts on Yik Yak about an incident that occurred four days earlier.

Luke Kane, a student at the Castleton campus, was found hiding in a third-floor women’s bathroom in Ellis the prior Saturday evening.

According to the Rutland Herald, the woman showering at the time saw Kane’s fully clothed reflection in a puddle on the floor, and after warning another woman who entered, pulled the shower curtain to find him standing there. He then claimed to be “testing the water.” Soon after, the first woman’s boyfriend decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I grab my stuff to go take a shower and then I hear arguing in the hallway, and I’m like, ‘what’s going on?’ cause it’s pretty loud,” said student Frankie Young. “I’m overhearing someone’s boyfriend confronting this guy about being in the women’s bathroom.”

Young added that “(Kane) was making excuses” to the boyfriend throughout the confrontation and that there are only two bathrooms, a men’s and a women’s, located on opposite sides of the floor.

The police have since arrested him and the case is ongoing. Kane has also taken a leave of absence from school and is seeking mental health treatment.

Most of the student body, however, were completely unaware of the incident until days later, when the Rutland Herald released an article and the information spread like wildfire on the social media app Yik Yak.

“A coward’s app,” remarked Association Director of Public Safety Keith Molinari, referring to the app’s anonymity.

Students have since used the app to pour out their anger and frustrations, both towards Kane and the school. This has resulted in many slurs, accusations of other crimes, even spreading the Facebook accounts of Kane’s family members.

“It’s supposed to be a student space where you can speak freely. But I do think people can go too far on it,” said Billy Dornburgh, another student who lives in Ellis.

By Tuesday, Yik Yak and media outlets like WCAX and the Rutland Herald were the primary way most students had heard of the incident. This frustrated much of the student body, with students arguing that the school should have quickly addressed it.

“They obviously don’t want our school to look bad,” said Ruby Durfee, a student who lived right down the hall from Kane. “But stuff like this happens at Harvard, Yale and other big schools. So, I think that worrying about (their image) makes them look even worse than coming forward and acknowledging it.”

Because of her proximity to Kane, she had fears about whether or not he might have been spying on her. With nearly a week gone by and no word from the school, she felt as if it was a poor reflection of the school looking after its students.

“If they’re acknowledging it, then it actually shows that the adults at our college actually do care about us,” she said.

On Thursday, Dean of Students Jamia Danzy released an email addressing the incident, giving resources for where students can get help. When prompted about why the school waited to respond, Danzy responded with the following.

“I know there were some concerns about transparency, and it really wasn’t about trying to hide anything. In this situation, there were victims involved, and we wanted to make sure that they were supported and had the resources that they needed. And in this situation, the individual was arrested, and because the individual was arrested and there was not necessarily an ongoing threat or someone who we didn’t know who the perpetrator was, we didn’t issue a timely warning,” said Danzy.

While the situation itself is ongoing, Castleton students are demanding change with a petition for more enhanced safety measures at VTSU reaching over 120 signatures.

Molinari said he supports the petition and that while Public Safety does their best with the resources given, they could use more help. He urged students to reach out with any concerns going forward.

“If there’s an incident where you don’t know if it’s a crime, it’s weird and it’s bugging you, call Public Safety. We’re 24/7 dispatched and our number is (802) 468-1288. That is my suggestion to any student here on campus. Please, please pick up the phone. Call Public safety.”

With contributions from Pearl Bellomo