To the Editors:
I was assassinated the week before fall break. It was pretty late at night, and I had just come back from the gym. I went to my room to get a towel and left my door open while I took a shower.
When I got back to my room, everything seemed fine. I left my door open and went over to my desk to check my e-mail. That's when I saw my assassin. He had been waiting for me in my room as I showered. He hid behind the front door to my room when I came in, closing the door when I saw him. As he did, he said, "You're not going anywhere." He then whipped a sock at me. I was out.
As a guy, my first thought upon seeing this stranger in my room was not, "I'm about to get raped." But if I were a girl, standing there in my towel looking at a strange man who had been waiting for me in my room and was now telling me that I'm "not going anywhere," would that thought be so unreasonable?
The new assassin rule that declassifies participants' dorm rooms as "safe areas" encourages would-be assassins to hide in the rooms of their prey. This is unacceptable. I've talked to girls who told me how negatively they would have reacted had they been in the same position. It's a violation of our personal space. More importantly, the rule change has the potential to put girls in the horrible position, if only for a moment, of fearing for their bodies. I certainly hope that Residential Life goes back to their old rules for future rounds of assassin.
Sincerely,
Sam Vitello '13