A print version of this article contained the name of a student who was touched. Their name has been removed from the online version, as they no longer want their name attached to this incident.
Students are angry that the NYPD wasn’t called to respond to a man who entered a New School building, sexually assaulting one student and touching several other students in late February.
A man in blue hospital scrubs touched students and shouted at a classroom full of people he’d managed to sit in for at least 20 minutes after sneaking past security at 6 E. 16th St. on Feb. 27, witnesses and officials said.
One student said he was followed and sexually assaulted by the man in the elevator on his way to class.
“He rubs his hand down my chest, playing with my necklace. He starts grabbing my abs and he’s like, ‘This is nice,’” said the student, a freshman studying culture and media.
“I’m looking around—and everyone in the elevator, it’s like a packed elevator, no one is paying attention, on their phones, headphones in, and I’m staring, just in shock. I didn’t know what to do,” he added.
“He grabbed my groin, looks me dead in the eyes, and said ‘I’m going to jerk off to you later,’” he said.
The man followed the student to class and claimed to be there for an orientation. There, he sexually harassed and touched another student, Dylan Morris, a freshman.
The man touched Morris’ legs and was talking to himself. The man asked Morris if they were married to each other, telling the student, “I want to wake up to your penis every morning.”
After the man was in the class for 20 minutes, the professor left the room to call Campus Safety, witnesses said. The student who was touched on the elevator left the room as well. The man also left the classroom.
A spokesperson for the university said that Campus Safety found out about the intruder from the professor, but the professor said otherwise.
“They already had the detailed description of the man when I called them. Unfortunately, I don’t know how,” the professor said. The professor of the class asked to remain anonymous for their safety.
Campus Safety found the intruder on the seventh floor and escorted him back to the classroom to retrieve his belongings. The man touched at least two students in the presence of Campus Safety officers, according to witnesses. He touched a female student on the shoulder and Morris on the legs, again.
Campus Safety told the individual, “Please don’t touch the students,” Morris said. Before leaving with campus security, the man kicked a trash can.
“You ruined your class, you fucking cunt,” he shouted at the professor, according to a witness. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
The anonymous student who was touched said that at a meeting in the week following the incident, he told Dean Stephanie Browner, the class and the professor about the assault in the elevator. Since then, “no one has reached out to me individually” to assist in filing a police report, they said.
The student does not plan on filing a report at this point, as they don’t feel like it would make a difference “after the guy [had] already gone free.”
“Had the guy been caught or his name taken, and the school recognized the situation that day, then I possibly would have filed [a report] that day,” he said. “I could have pressed charges for sexual assault. The school could have pressed charges for trespassing.”
In interviews with The New School Free Press, students who were accosted were angry that Campus Safety officers never called police.
Morris, the student who was touched on the legs, disagreed with the decision to not notify NYPD. “Security took him outside and left him on the fucking corner. They should have called 911 the minute they had him and not let him go at all,” Morris said.
“He shouldn’t have been let back into the classroom in the first place, they should have gotten his fucking bags for him,” Morris said. “He’s a deranged person in this room, and you’re just watching him harass students and harass the teacher.”
“The individual complied with Campus Safety orders to vacate the building; NYPD assistance was not necessary,” said Amy Malsin, a spokesperson for the university, in an email to The Free Press.
“If an individual fails to comply with the direction of campus safety personnel, an immediate call to 911 would be warranted,” Malsin added.
Director of Campus Safety Thomas Iliceto said that an image of the intruder had been distributed to campus security, according to an email sent to students after the incident. Iliceto also urged to students to notify campus security if they saw an unauthorized person enter the university.
The New School declined to provide The Free Press with footage or photos of the individual.
Morris was upset at the lack of details included in the email sent to students about the incident, as well at the university’s description of events.
“[The email] was like, ‘Excuse me, a small class disruption has happened by someone who is not a member of our community.’ And that is such an understatement, it’s not even funny,” Morris said.
Photo by Orlando Mendiola.