By Laura Sanicola
An updated version of this article can be found here.
A university student accused Fordham Public Safety and Fordham University Emergency Medical Services of mishandling a sexual assault. Fordham Ram Archives
A Fordham University student has accused Fordham Public Safety and Fordham University Emergency Medical Services (FUEMS) of mishandling an alleged sexual assault and violating medical protocol in an article released Sunday evening in Slant News, a digital news website consisting of crowdsourced content.
Marissa Marcinelli, FCRH ’17, penned An Open Letter To The Fordham University Emergency Services Who Failed Me on the news site, describing a November 11 incident in which she and two of her female friends took a taxi cab from Chelsea to their off-campus apartments in the Bronx at 2 a.m.
Marcinelli recalled that the taxi driver wanted more than the cash fare they had paid him, and “proceeded to get in the back of the cab and grope, kiss, and attempt to rape my friend on the basis that we ‘still owed him,'” she wrote in the article.
According to Marcinelli, after begging the taxi driver to take them to Fordham Public Safety’s office to be compensated for any remaining debt, the girls were “immediately thrust into a whirlwind of questions” from Public Safety. She recounted that Public Safety officers repaid the alleged assailant in the lobby of the office and allowed him to leave without taking down his license plate or cab number.
Neither Marcinelli nor her friends had taken down that information or called out for help to bystanders, she reported.
“The event happened so quickly that we were only able to deal with it as we did in that moment of panic,” Marcinelli told The Fordham Ram on Monday morning. “Upon arrival at Public Safety we assumed and trusted that prosecution of the perpetrator would be handled, however he was allowed to leave. Public Safety didn’t take down any of his information as we assumed they would in a situation such as this.”
Marcinelli believed that Public Safety expressed bias when questioning to her and her friends about the incident because she and her friends had been intoxicated.
“[The questions] were asked in a way that would suggest that my friends and I were the ones at fault for being intoxicated and taking a cab,” she wrote in the article.
Marcinelli also accused FUEMS of treating her friends with both apathy and aggression and violating medical confidentiality protocol by questioning her about her medical history in front of 15 FUEMS and Public Safety officers.
“I am honestly disgusted by the stigma your staff holds against those with mental illness, a condition which held no relevance in the incident of our assault,” she directed to FUEMS in the article.
She also addressed the university: “I am embarrassed and disgusted that an institution which prides itself in being established in Jesuit ideals treats their students in such a condemning way, especially in an hour of need.”
Bob Howe, senior director of communications at Fordham, released the following statement about the incident: “University officials read Ms. Marcinelli’s open letter this morning. The allegations are very grave: we are taking her taking her account of the incident seriously, and are investigating the actions of the University personnel and students involved.”
Howe indicated that a more comprehensive statement would be released shortly.
Nishant Sahoo, GSB ’16 and chief of medical operations of FUEMS declined comment on legal grounds.
Fordham Public Safety did not respond to a request for comment at the time this article was published.
