September 5
Spring Fling Fallout
Last year’s Spring Fling, which ended in a violent debacle now referred to by many as the Devon Gender Riot, has resulted in a number of developments. Spring exams were canceled and the school year came to an abrupt end, so precise details were slow to emerge from the confusion. Ensuing investigations over summer break have lent considerable clarity.
Violence erupted during a break in a musical performance by rap artist Killa C Note. Members of two university groups, the Beta Psi fraternity and the Fellingham Club, sought to block an ongoing peaceful protest known as the Crawl. There were a number of injuries, and several dozen students were taken for treatment at Havenport General Hospital. There was also over $1 million in damage to Draper and Hunter Houses.
The Crawl, a daily personal protest against gender violence by a first-year student named Lulu Harris, had gained thousands of followers and significant national attention. Violence was triggered when a sexually explicit video appeared on the Fling’s big screen depicting Harris and Aldrich Wheeler, a well-known campus activist, known to most as Red. Exacerbating the problem, members of Devon’s security staff had staged a walkout moments before in a protest over a song by Killa C Note that they perceived to be anti-police. (Contacted in Los Angeles by this paper, a spokesperson for Killa C Note said he apologizes if anyone was upset with his performance, but he denies any responsibility for the ensuing violence. “Killa is a messenger of peace,” said the spokesperson.)
The focus of the conflict was a parade-style float depicting a twenty-foot phallus, brought by Beta Psi members. Many students and other onlookers found the imagery highly offensive, particularly as it contrasted with the Crawl’s message of female victimhood.
A student DJ unwittingly played the video of Harris and Wheeler, saying he was unaware of the content. The Committee on Student Violence and Gender Abuse, hastily formed in the days following the Fling, determined that a Beta Psi member named Finlay Belcher was the source of the video. Belcher has been expelled from Devon.
In a dramatic turn of events, Milton Strauss, Devon’s president, resigned from his position in June. Devon’s Board of Governors, led by Stillman Weathers, expressed dismay at Strauss’s handling of events, particularly concerning the amount of alcohol consumed by Fling participants, most of whom were underage. Last week, Weathers appointed Dean Arjun Choudhary as interim president while a search committee looks for a permanent replacement.
In other developments:
—Fraternities will no longer be recognized by Devon. Any students found to be a member will not be eligible for leadership positions and will not receive university recommendations for postgraduate scholarships such as the Rhodes.
—Seven members of Beta Psi, including former chapter president Theodore “Tug” Fowler, have been suspended for one year. Reached at his home by the Daily, Fowler said, “Whatever.”
—The university will have to make do without Foster Jennison’s $250 million gift to fund construction of the new houses. Publicly upset with developments, he has withdrawn his support. The administration stated that while they are disappointed, the hole in the construction budget was filled by the endowment’s finishing the June fiscal year up 8 percent instead of the expected 7 percent. The endowment was aided by a strong recent rally in hedge funds.
—Lulu Harris has withdrawn permanently from Devon. The Crawl came to its violent end after the dramatic revelation that Harris was the long-estranged daughter of film star Camille Thornton. Despite the prurient content of the video, Harris has been embraced in feminist circles, with supporters dismissing the graphic video as “slut shaming.” She recently auctioned off the ball and chain used in her protest for $75,000 on eBay, donating the proceeds to Code Pink.
—In a bizarre twist, the video that triggered violence exonerated Professor Ephraim Russell of assault charges on Harris. Russell was thought to be at the heart of Harris’s protest and was brought up by the university on Title IX charges. The Daily has learned the time stamp on the video proved the assault to be impossible. Devon’s Title IX Committee subsequently cleared Russell of assault charges but found him guilty of promoting alcohol consumption by an underage student. He is on a one-year leave of absence. Who might have actually assaulted Harris, or whether she was assaulted at all, remains unclear.
—Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Martika Malik-Adams, who ran Professor Russell’s Title IX investigation, also resigned after questions were raised regarding her handling of the case. She now runs diversity initiatives for the entire University of California system, reportedly for a salary of $850,000 a year.
—Aldrich Wheeler is not currently enrolled at Devon and his whereabouts are unknown.