Brody's Notes... Rutgers University's President On Gay Teen Suicide: "I Believe That We Did All We Could"

Rutgers University President Richard McCormick

Photo By Steven L. Lubetkin

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) OCT 8 | Speaking to reporters after a meeting of a Rutgers Board of Governor’s meeting in Camden, New Jersey, Rutgers University president Richard McCormick, referring to the suicide death of 18 year old Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi, said:

"Based on everything I know, I believe that we did all we could and we did the right thing," he said.

Prosecutors in suburban Middlesex County, New Jersey, have subpoenaed Rutgers University officials  to obtain copies of the complaint Clementi filed with a resident assistant after he learned that his roommate, 18 year old Dharun Ravi allegedly used a webcam to watch him having sex with another unidentified male student in their room, streaming the feed live on the Internet. It is unclear if anyone other than Ravi and his friend,  co-defendant Molly Wei, also aged 18, viewed the live video feed. But Ravi is accused of trying and failing to use the webcam to catch Clementi in a second sexual encounter a few days later.

McCormick told reporters that the university will respond to Clementi’s death by stepping up efforts to teach civil behaviours, prevent student suicides and make all of its campuses more welcoming and friendly for LGBT students.
In the wake of the tragedy and ensuing national publicity,  McCormick told reporters that he had met with more than 20 students from LGBT groups on the university's New Brunswick campus. During the meeting, the participants discussed creating safe spaces in campus dormitories for LGBT students and adding "coming out" counseling services for those students struggling with revealing their sexuality to their family, friends and fellow students.

"I learned a good deal," McCormick said. "It heightened my sorrow personally that Tyler Clementi was not able to avail himself of all those resources."