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Attacks
prompt hall meeting
SGA
and ISA presidents convened to promote awareness after
two students were assaulted at Eagle Mountain Lake.
By
John Anderson and Julia Mae Jorgensen
Staff Reporters
Two students were assaulted last weekend while camping
at Eagle Mountain Lake in an attack that may have been
racially motivated, university officials said.
Five TCU students, two traditional and three international,
were camping next to a group of young adults they had
befriended, said Mike Russel, associate dean of Campus
Life. In the course of the night, however, Russel said
“something went south.”
“These five students who thought they were friendly
with these people were attacked,” Russel said.
Russel said the students were targeted because they are
minorities and international students that attend TCU.
Russel said the suspects knew they were TCU international
students from earlier conversations.
“I am very sad that anyone got hurt and I am concerned
about the well-being of the students,” Russel said.
“We have responded to the students that were hurt
and we hope that they feel our support.”Two men were
hurt in the process of getting the sole woman of the group
to safety inside a car, Russel said.
Marlin Gusman, 19, and Rajvikram Singh Deo, 20, sustained
physical injuries during the assault, according to a Tarrant
County Sherriff Department incident report.Singh Deo said
he received facial fractures from the attack and that
his group of friends was outnumbered in the fight.
“It started off as a social gathering and de-escalated
into violence within a few seconds,” Singh Deo said.
In response to the incident, Jay Zeidman, Student Government
Association president and Ugur Sener, International Student
Association president, held a town hall meeting Wednesday
night to discuss the issue.
“After some recent events and the growing global
tension, it is vital that we strive to work closer with
one another,” Zeidman said in an e-mail to student
leaders, “and we hope this meeting will be the beginning
of that relationship.”
At the meeting Russel explained to the audience that the
events that occurred early Saturday morning at an unnamed
campground at Eagle Mountain Lake.Zeidman facilitated
the meeting with Sener; Russel; Carol Thompson, chairwoman
of the sociology, criminal justice and anthropology departments;
and John Singleton, director of International Student
Services.
Thompson said that things have changed in a negative way
since Sept. 11 and people now live in a culture of fear.
“I think we have to take action quickly,” Thompson
said.
Sener said not just Americans but also international students
should be educated in diversity.
“I hope people learned a few things about what it
is like to be a minority on this campus,” Sener said
of the meeting.
Panelists proposed a mentor program to help international
students adjust to life in America.
“The second you step off a plane there would be someone
there committed to making your experiencer easier,”
Zeidman said.
Susan Quaye, a sophomore psychology major, said a meeting
like Wednesday’s was long overdue.
“It is better that we have it now than never,”
Quaye said. “It was good to open topics that are
hard to talk about, we need less talk and more action.”
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Karly
Campbell/Staff Photographer
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| Sophomore
physics major Clement Ogujior spoke in favor of
a mentorship program for international students.
to help foster a more welcoming environment at TCU.
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