It seems as though some security guards are missing from the Fordham campus. While some have simply moved on to other jobs, others have been fired; for sexually harassing students. In a day and age where this sort of abuse is not as tolerated as it once was, security guards, among other professionals, need to take extra precautions as to not be offensive while on the job. According to incidents that have been reported to Fordham University's security office, these precautions are not being taken by some of the security guards.
While some victims feel fear in admitting something has happened to them, others are very vocal and make their feelings known to those who can take matters further. One such person is Beth Worton, FCLC '01, who has had two incidents occur to her within the past year. Scared and dismayed, she and a friend, Ryan St.Germain, reported the incidents to John Carroll, head of security. "I haven't seen either guard since I reported these incidents to security," said Worton. She is half right: the first guard was fired, but the second was disciplined by having been removed from duty only at Fordham. The guard has been reassigned to another post elsewhere by Summit Security, Fordham's security agency supplier. Efforts to reach head of human resources of Summit Security, John Aulette, failed; he returned calls, but after the hours I had specifically asked him to return my call.
Subsequently, on campus, new reports of inappropriate conduct have come to the attention of these reporters, and the alleged perpetrator of these crimes is still employed by Summit Security. Summit Security is an outside agency, and not directly affiliated with Fordham, but does supply its security personnel.
These more recent complaints concern one guard in particular, whose usual post is on the second floor of McMahon Hall. Several students say they have been remarked upon or commented to while passing by him. However, John Carroll says that the first time he had not heard of any complaints regarding this guard's conduct. Regarding the allegations, John Carroll said "If this is true, I will be seeking to terminate." Carroll says he is waiting for a substantial, verifiable complaint to continue this investigation and he noted that in his eight years as head of security, Worton's complaints are the only instances of harassment that has been reported.
"The second floor guards are the sketchy ones," says Hattie Mae Williams, FCLC '03. "The location is so out-of-the-way that there's usually only one of you and one of them so they can say whatever they want." John Carroll says that he maintains the second floor entrance "as a courtesy to the students." He noted that it costs $80,000 per year to keep just one guard there at all times, so it would be "ridiculous" to employ a second guard, out of the fifty that work at Lincoln Center, at this entrance.
Claudia McPherson, FCLC '03, says that the guard in question is "always talking about how the students are dressed all slutty and think school is a fashion show." Nic Kelley, FCLC '03, used to live on the second floor, and was frequently harassed by him. Kelley says that his "tactic is to ask a weird, random question, to make you feel uncomfortable and stall you from walking by." It is widely acknowledged by students that he "looks high all the time". Some students have also commented that while on the job, he often sings loudly, reads gay pornography, and has bloodshot eyes.
John Carroll says that a battery of tests is performed prior to hiring any guard for employment at Fordham, including psychiatric and drug tests. Name and fingerprint checks are also performed. Also, cross-referencing potential employees with individuals on the lists of the county correctional facilities within the immediate area is performed. However, no tests, including drug tests, are ever performed after a guard is hired.
It was also on the second floor of the residence hall that Beth Worton felt that she was in a compromising situation. The incident occurred late in the fall semester of 1999. Just before a club meeting on the second floor, Worton was using the telephone. The security guard on duty at that location asked Worton, "Do you feel light or heavy?" Shocked, Worton was bombarded with more comments. "While looking me up and down, he asked how much body fat I have and said probably not much," Worton added. A nervous and upset Worton went to her meeting and expressed her feelings to those present. "It really upset me, I was scared and afraid," Worton said. She has since had mixed thoughts regarding this matter because she says guards here do this type of thing a lot. She states, "Girls get into the habit of thinking that's all right. That's not acceptable and the guards think all the girls like that and they don't."
Hattie Mae Williams agrees, "The security guards always try to really surreptitiously flirt with the girls but only to the extent that if the girl is dumb and stupid, then he'll get what he want. They're really suggestive, but not to the point of trouble."
Following her first encounter, Worton's friend Ryan St. Germain, FCLC '02, wrote a letter to George Henshaw, Associate Director of Security at Fordham. St Germain says his letter read that he was on the second floor at the time of the incident, and gave a description of the guard and the inappropriate comments that Worton immediately related to club members. Worton had no knowledge of the letter, but she says she was glad it was done. She was contacted shortly after by John Carroll to come in for a meeting to discuss the situation. He asked her if she would consider this sexual harassment. She said, "Yes."
John Carroll says that the guard was fired for his comments.
Worton's second encounter took place in May. On her way to the video-editing studio on the 4th floor of the Lowenstein Building, Worton needed to call security to open the locked door. She sat down to wait for the guard with a female friend. As she guard was walking down the hall, Worton said that he became "overly friendly" with her, saying, "Hey, beautiful princess, need any help up?" Worton was astounded, thinking "Oh my God, this is happening again, I can't believe it." When the guard saw Worton's friend he said, "Oh, two beautiful princesses!"
Worton returned in July to the security office to make another complaint. However, it was too late to really prove anything substantial although John Carroll says the guard was suspended for 10 days, and barred from working at Fordham.
"Aren't these guys put through sexual harassment training of some sort," Worton asked in her second meeting with George Henshaw. He responded that they are, then invited her to address all the security guards in order to bring this issue to their attention.
All the women contacted for this report, as well as the heads of security, voiced the same sentiment: that, as Beth Worton puts it, the security guards "are supposed to protect us and if you can't trust them, who can you trust? This is my home, if I can't feel safe in my home, where can I go?"
Without complaints filed officially with the security department nothing more can be done to combat these actions.