Administration responds to assault on student
By Ezra Salkin
Film and Television graduate student Syed Kazim Abidi was apprehended and assaulted by a group of teenagers on his way home from the Jen Library October 10, leaving him with a fractured bone in his face that required plastic surgery.
He was also left mental duress during his midterms and deep anxiety regarding security for international students in Savannah. These concerns were expressed in a letter the editor he sent to District. The letter received a outcry of frightened and angry comments.
Vice President for Student Success Phil Alletto and Dean of Students Steve Larson spoke generally on school protocol, but also commented specifically on Abidi’s situation, calling the seemingly inefficient response by the college administration portrayed in the letter a tragic misunderstanding.
In his letter, one major complaint makes came a few days after the attack, when he needed to get to the Medical Records Department at the hospital to follow up on his doctor’s instructions regarding plastic surgery.
Having no means of personal transportation, he tried calling SCAD security as advised. After 45 minutes of being transferred back and forth between SCAD Transportation and SCAD Security, and unable to get a definitive answer about finding a ride, he called the International Student Services Office.
The answer they managed to procure was that Abidi’s request was denied as that service was discontinued after a private company took over SCAD’s security department.
“If SCAD can provide students with trips to Wal-Mart, Target and other shopping places, why, in emergencies like this,
can’t they provide transportation for students to the hospitals?” he asks in his letter.
In response to that specific incident, Larson and Alletto were in agreement: Abidi misunderstood protocol.
In the immediate aftermath of an assault, like the one in this case, or in the event of an accident, SCAD will do whatever necessary to get the student to the hospital by the most efficient means available.
However, it won’t be SCAD Security transporting the student. It’ll be an ambulance. The fact that Abidi called three days after the attack, when the situation was no longer urgent resulted in the denied request.
“Transportation depends on the seriousness of the emergency,” Larson said. “We want to make sure the student gets transported, but that isn’t specifically the school or security’s role. Security is security and medical is something else, although it can be a fine line.”
“Those options are reserved for emergencies. SCAD can’t be responsible for transporting each student back and forth to doctor’s appointments,” Alletto said.
Another salient concern of the letter was, as of the time it was published on the District, Abidi wasn’t contacted by either the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department or SCAD Security for a follow-up. Nor was a mass warning email sent out to students on account of the incident.
Larson believes Abidi didn’t initially communicate with the right people, an unfortunate and common occurrence in these situations.
“Sometimes students aren’t properly informed about who to speak to in these situations, and even when they are, they don’t communicate in a timely manner. Often they aren’t responsive when we try to check up either,” Larson said.
“There are times when I personally try to get in touch with the student. I’ll leave messages and calls that just aren’t returned. We take these situations very seriously, but there is only so much we can do with bits of information available at the time, and even disregarding that, our responses can’t always be perfect.”
Larson clarified how SCAD and the police are independent of each other, acting in different roles, even though they attempt to work collaboratively.
“We have different perspectives. The police work within the realm of safety and investigation. SCAD’s role is comfort, and pursuing options to keep students happy. Our chief role is making sure students are safe and healthy after an assault or mugging,” Larson said.
“As Dean of Students, my role is to reassure students and see how they are doing. In situations like this, I call, and I may ask questions like, ‘Would you feel more secure living back on campus?’ We approach the situation from angles we can control.”
Alletto broke down what exactly a timely warning means and its purpose.
“A timely warning is used to warn students within the compromised area in a timely manner immediately after the incident, so they can be aware of the dangers and protect themselves. If we don’t learn of the incident until two to three days later, as we did here, a timely warning is useless,” he said.
He also mentioned that safety-related emails are regularly sent to the student body.
Alletto agreed with Larson regarding the role of SCAD Security.
“It’s not SCAD security’s job to call students back. Counseling services, who are trained in those areas, calls the student back when they become aware. That is the general procedure and it is more proficient that way,” he said.
Abidi implied later, in a comment on the message section of his letter, that he thinks SCAD, with its steep tuition costs should cover the portion of his medical expenses that aren’t covered by insurance. His costs range from hospital, plastic surgery to radiology bills.
While 90 percent of his costs are covered, the remaining 10 percent, amounting to a couple hundred dollars. Abidi wants SCAD to assist in his medical expernses, since he “wasn’t at fault,” and it was a “critical assault,” and he under a large economic strain.
In response, Larson said, “In these types of situations, I encourage the student to come and talk about it. It’s tough financial times right now for everyone. All I can say is that the student should come in and talk to either myself or the Ombudsman and we can have a conversation.”
Alletto said, however, that the request is just unrealistic.
“Tuition is used towards furthering education. It would be unfair to use other student’s tuition towards isolated incidents involving medical and doctor bills. I sympathize, but that is the reality,” Alletto said.
When asked as to evaluate SCAD’s resources and procedures in the wake of situations like this, Dean Larson gave a positive endorsement.
“I’m new here and have only been at SCAD for about five months and am still learning. However, from what I’ve seen, we have great security and police. They are spread out and are doing a lot of things,” he said.
“SCAD does a great job analyzing its procedures as well as positive and negative feedback it receives. They make the necessary and appropriate changes when there is a need, and they make them quickly. We are constantly evaluating here.”
As a final word, Vice President Alletto said, “My hope is that the students will act if they have all the responsibility.”
“While they are doing that, we, the college, will act as if we have all the responsibility, and the same goes for the Savannah Police. That is the way we can effectually establish a safe environment. It is a team process and these unfortunate occurrences are difficult and felt by all of us.”
Editor’s Note: Abidi’s original letter to the editor can be found here.
