A student at NYU is saying the institution has failed to ensure her safety after she reported an incident involving her roommate. She said the incident wasn’t taken seriously, she was not moved to another housing and has been subject to harassment since turning to social media for support.
Eloni Belcher, a sophomore student at Tisch School Of The Arts, said she woke up around 5:26 a.m. on April 12 to her roommate urinating on her arms. She said her roommate appeared to be inebriated. Belcher immediately got up to wash the urine off her mattress and bedsheets.
“I was freaked out — so I got up, and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and then she says, ‘Oh, sorry,’” she told NYU student news outlet Washington Square News. “I was just in shock, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’”
Belcher said that she and her roommate had gotten along but got into a disagreement a day before when Belcher asked if she could lower the volume when speaking over the phone.
On April 12, Belcher said she contacted the Department of Campus Safety to report the incident. She was told a report was filed with NYU and officers called law enforcement. Belcher said police at two different precincts categorized the case as harassment.
The student said NYU failed to assist her and ensure her safety
Belcher requested to be relocated in temporary housing but residence hall director Devin Budhram reportedly told her that “temporary spaces are not available at this time.”
“I am seeing how incompetent they’re being about this whole situation,” Belcher told the news outlet. “I do not feel like, from my point of view, that the university is helping me. So that was putting my safety at risk and on the line and they could have handled that so much better.”
She said that the Office of Student Conduct affirmed an investigation had started but found it hadn’t when meeting with them on April 15. Belcher said no one from OSC had visited the dorm or evaluated any evidence.
An NYU spokesperson went against claims that the institution did nothing to help her case.
“Given the concerns raised, we want to emphasize that the university has taken this matter seriously since it came to our attention,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement.
Belcher was told on April 17 that NYU had issued a “no contact directive” between her and her roommate, which prohibited students from “initiating or continuing any contact or communication.”
As she moved out of her dorm, Belcher told the residence hall director that she was afraid and to escort her roommate out of the room. She said staff refused to fulfill her request and that OSC had not notified them of the “no contact directive.”
The NYU student turned to social media for support
Belcher posted a testimony of her experience on Instagram and TikTok (the latter garnered 4 million views but has since been deleted). She said she started receiving messages from her roommates’ friends threatening legal action, accusing her of spreading misinformation and that her actions are “despicable.” Her roommate’s mother tried to contact Belcher’s mother and said the social media posts had led to death threats. Belcher was told that OCS received a report of her “online behavior that constitutes harassment.”
“It’s just ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t know why I would lie about this and ruin my whole life with three weeks of school left.”
“All of this has fallen on me — nothing has fallen on the person that did this to me,” she added. “I’m being punished by the administration for being assaulted on campus and that’s horrible.”
