Crowds gravitated toward the official "Hot Pink" alerts at the entrances to nearly every campus building on Friday morning. The bulletins, posted by campus security, informed the Macalester community of a "sexual assault with a weapon and threats of bodily harm" that occurred the previous night in Wallace Hall.

The initial alert also contained a description of the perpetrator. The purely informative nature of the alert notice stood in contrast to the publicly-expressed shock of community leaders.

President Mike McPherson said the assault caused "unimaginable pain and a sense of horrible violation," and "fills us with fear and anger." MCSG President Haris Aqeel ’04 agreed. "Sexual assault in general is a disgusting thing, and the fact that the survivor wasn’t part of our community and that this is the only impression they’re going to take away from Macalester is just sad," he said.

Aqeel applauded the efforts of the Macalester population to come together, especially the Dean of Students office, which "put aside all other work" to focus on the issues of safety and awareness.

Upwards of 150 students crowded into the Weyerhaeuser Chapel to participate in an afternoon forum Friday, which the administration organized for community members to share concerns and feelings.

The questions focused on issues of security, and ways in which Macalester may improve its preparedness and response to harmful situations.

Several students pointed to lapses in security that they had experienced, referencing calls to security officers that were met with voice mail answers and slow response times.

Director of Security Terry Gorman noted that dialing 911 is always an option. "When someone dials 911 from an on-campus phone, security is automatically alerted, and can pinpoint the call to a particular dorm and room," he said.

David Chiu ’03 said that the situation should draw attention to a general lack of accountability on the part of an "administration which promotes a sense of illusion" concerning safety and security. Hamre said she agreed that there may normally be a "false sense of security," but said that she disagreed with Chiu’s assessment of administrative operations.

Hamre continued to point out that most students do not realize how well organized the administration is. "We talk all the time," she said, and "it does not take a crisis to get us collaborating."

Director of Residential Life Sarah Griesse insisted that, "Administrative protocol is really sound." What the protocol provides for is a "safety net for the community," she said.

After being briefed at home early Friday morning, Griesse met with all Residence Hall Directors (RHDs) at 10 a.m. to inform the staff of the details and to stress "that our community has suffered and that we have to come together."

Griesse reinforced the idea that "residential assistants are present and available to provide comfort and support." The RHD’s then met with the student RA’s who in turn arranged for hall meetings in all student dorms.

The message from Residential Life centered on individual responsibility, said Tom Williamson, Hall Director for Doty-Turck. "Be observant, lock your doors, and don’t prop doors," he advised.

Whether Residential Life’s efforts have been sufficient is another question. "There’s no way that RA’s or RHD’s can police the dorms—it’s a community standard" Williamson said.

RHD’s who met with Griesse again Monday reported seeing doors still propped open. "A piece of our community does not understand the idea of obligations and responsibilities on an individual level," Griesse warned.

These and other concerns will continue to shadow the students and staff who will serve on the Security Task Force, developed Friday through the Dean of Students office. The task force will seek to provide a discourse between concerned students and members of the administration.

As of Monday, Hamre had received word from 22 students interested in joining the task force.

There is a larger issue in view than just changes in security, Marie Deschamps ’04, an organizer of STARSA (Students Together Against Rape and Sexual Assault) said. Although the survivors of this crime are foremost in our thoughts, Deschamps reminded students that there are many people on campus that have seen firsthand the effects of sexual assault.

"The key is to take your anger and fear and to do something positive with it," Deschamps said. STARSA can provide a safe space for those who have experienced sexual assault, and can facilitate "taking back your power," she said.

Hamre agreed that STARSA and concerned members of the community should "use this incident to continue the education around these issues."

For Deschamps, lack of education has been the student group’s biggest obstacle. "It’s not an issue of resources," she stressed. She said that STARSA has been reaching out to the community for a long time, but has until now received very little response.

Brian Wagner, director of Campus Programs said that the student escort service, another resource available to students, faculty, and staff, is rarely taken advantage of. He said that the service is generally requested once every two weeks.

Last Friday night, there were a dozen requests for the escort service.

The concern of campus programs is that the use of these resources will "taper off quickly," even though the risk to the community may remain the same.

"We all need to maintain our eyes and ears, even as anxiety subsides," Wagner said.