Fr. Boroughs Violates Many Holy Cross Policies/Update

I wrote to Fr. Boroughs five days ago because a Holy Cross policy states peaceful protests should not be interfered with.

When I began my Vigil for Justice, the Office of the President delivered a “no trespass” letter.  This not only interfered with the protest, it stopped me from doing or attending anything at Holy Cross, despite many invitations every year as an alum.   I could not attend Fr. Brooks’ funeral for example — and I had even contacted Fr Boroughs about this, wanting to attend the funeral.  He ignored me completely.

Five days ago I wrote this letter to Fr. Boroughs:

Dear Fr. Boroughs,

College of the Holy Cross written policy states that peaceful protests should not be interfered with.

College officials described my protests — the Vigil for Justice and the hunger strike — as peaceful.  They said so publicly, in writing.

The “no trespass” letter dated March 2012, which Public Safety said originated in your office, violates campus policies.

For fourteen months, you have violated college policies.   I have spoken with Worcester area alums whose protests have not been handled in the poor way you have handled mine.  As you know, this protest concerns issues of clergy sexual abuse reporting and complaints of confidentiality breaches, and it has always been peaceful.

Please rescind your “no trespass” letter and apologize immediately.

An alum

Fr. Boroughs has not responded at all to this letter.   His failure to respond about this problem is totally consistent with his failure to address many acts of retaliation.

More Comparisons Between Holy Cross and the U.S. Military on Sexual Assault

The San Antonio Express News has been investigating sexual assault in the United States military for a long time.   The most recent set of reports was in the paper this week.   It got my attention because it does an excellent job detailing the retaliation that victims suffer — and not just saying it.   There are details about the retaliation.   I have details too.     Here is the final report:  http://www.mysanantonio.com/twice-betrayed/article/Assault-victims-struggle-to-transfer-to-other-4532717.php

The military looks for reforms and so does Congress.   But as the San Antonio Express News found, reality is different from policy.   Congress has a new policy, then the military struggles and rejects or does it half way.  A recent new policy allowed victims to transfer to another military facility swiftly and be in a different place than the accused, but time after time the records show these requests are ignored.   Sometimes it is because the military is investigating the victim of sexual assault.

One of the strangest experiences I’ve had at Holy Cross is the college ignoring its own policies.   Policy after policy at Holy Cross punishes retaliation and breach of confidentiality — but the Office of the President breached my privacy and confidentiality when it wanted to without permission or any emergency that justified it,  and the Office of the President retaliated against me when I complained.   Fr. Boroughs, what were you thinking?

The college also has a policy on protesting, saying peaceful protests should not be interfered with.   But look at what the college did about my little vigil for justice.

I was banned from campus, period — and not just when I was protesting.   I complained a lot and I was ignored.   Remember:  peaceful protests are not to be interfered with, under Holy Cross policies.   I couldn’t even go to Fr. Brooks’ funeral…..

Just like the United States military, the Office of the President of the College of the Holy Cross cannot seem to respect its own policies.   And then it blames all of it on me.

Follow Me

When I was learning to play guitar when I was a kid,  John Denver’s “Follow Me” was in the songbook.    It was a great song for a young person or any person starting out.   The guitar playing was very musical, but not as difficult as many other more complicated scores.  It was a good song to learn on.

So I’m out walking this morning to do something and I find myself singing this refrain:

Follow me where I go what I do and who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of me
Follow me up and down all the way and all around
Take my hand and say you’ll follow me

Then I remembered more:

It’s long been on my mind
You know it’s been a long, long time
I’ve tried to find the way that I can make you understand
The way I feel about you and just how much I need you
To be there where I can talk to you
When there’s no one else around

And then most of the rest, with some fudging until I stopped myself wondering what the hell I was doing singing on a sidewalk.

You see I’d like to share my life with you
And show you things I’ve seen
Places that I’m going to places where I’ve been
To have you there beside me and never be alone
And all the time that you’re with me
We will be at home

Follow me where I go what I do and who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of me
Follow me up and down all the way
Take my hand and I will follow you

I had the feeling I was praying, and I was talking to God or God was talking to me.  That doesn’t make it so.   I could be wrong.   But I don’t know if it matters if you are wrong about prayer.   It just is.   Hello God.  I am at the Vigil for Justice on a sidewalk some days, and sometimes I am on a sidewalk singing.

 

 

The Main Issue, even tho HC wants to make me the issue

Week 15 at the College of the Holy Cross

Comparing Holy Cross to the U.S. Military on Reporting Sexual Assault

There are excellent news stories about how poorly sexual assault reports are handled around the globe, and especially in the United States military.

One especially good series of stories is in the San Antonio Express News.   The paper did a series on how the military handles reports of sexual assault, emphasizing throughout the series facts that show military victims of sexual assault are betrayed by the military too –  betrayed two times, by the perp and by the military.  http://www.mysanantonio.com/twice-betrayed/

The report presents evidence that victims are often retaliated against, face false claims of mental disorders,  and then find investigations into themselves.

This is my experience at Holy Cross.    When I reported the sexual assault to former president Michael McFarland, he promised strict confidentiality — that no one else would know my name, where I lived or my story.   The college lawyer confirmed it, but explained as the college lawyer he needed to investigate.   It wasn’t easy, but I gave him permission to talk to specific people for a limited time.   THAT is the confidentiality promised to me by Michael McFarland SJ and Dennis Yesalonia SJ.

But Holy Cross screwed up badly, for a long time — more than a decade.

Then the new president of Holy Cross retaliated:   banning me from campus, putting my name on an internal list without asking for permission and with no emergency, conspiring with other Jesuits and their lawyers against me without ever asking for permission and without any emergency, dropping me from being a class agent for the Alumni Association after MANY years when there was no reason for them to have my name about THIS, not letting me attend Fr. Brooks’ funeral — without any good reason, and filing a complaint against the professional license I earned a few years after I graduated from Holy Cross.

It adds up, and it’s difficult.

After YEARS of seeing that letters about problems are ignored by the college, I began a Vigil for Justice at Holy Cross.

I will be there for as long as it takes for the college to accept responsibility.

I Wrote to Fr. Boroughs About His Violation of Holy Cross Policies

Dear Fr. Boroughs,

College of the Holy Cross written policy states that peaceful protests should not be interfered with.

College officials described my protests — the Vigil for Justice and the hunger strike — as peaceful.  They said so publicly, in writing.

The “no trespass” letter dated March 2012, which Public Safety said originated in your office, violates campus policies.

For fourteen months, you have violated college policies.   I have spoken with Worcester area alums whose protests have not been handled in the poor way you have handled mine.  As you know, this protest concerns issues of clergy sexual abuse reporting and complaints of confidentiality breaches, and it has always been peaceful.

Please rescind your “no trespass” letter and apologize immediately.

An alum