Concordia Student Says Roommate Beat Her Up
ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- A Concordia University freshman says she lives in fear after being bullied and beaten by her roommate. Ellen Harrison says the university is doing very little to protect her from her abuser.
"She ripped my glasses off and like punched me in my face and like broke my nose and I had a black eye," said Harrison
She said she has the photos to prove her roommate beat her up. Harrison said the assault was the end result of weeks of being bullied.
"Me and my roommate weren't getting along in the beginning and she came in with like 12 of her friends after I told her to take her food out of my fridge," she said.
Harrison said her roommate then trashed her computer and fought with her older sister before turning on her. She called campus security and St. Paul Police.
Police say the roommate was booked into the jail and released. Harrison said she was afraid to go back to her room.
"She was bullied before she got attacked and she didn't feel safe in the room. She didn't want to stay. She would sleep over at her sister's apartment so we're paying for a dorm room that she can't use because she was being intimidated," said Lorrie Adams, Harrison's mother.
Harrison's roommate was eventually moved to a dorm right next door.
"I carry pepper spray and I don't walk alone especially when it is dark outside. I'm always with somebody and I've gotten escorts from campus security," she said.
Harrison hired an attorney and filed an order for protection against her now former roommate. Her roommate then filed to have it rescinded so she could stay on campus.
"I think this really is Ellen being bullied and the school not taking responsibility for making sure that the students are safe," said Harrison's attorney Mary Drummer.
Concordia University says it is working with law enforcement and legal authorities to protect the safety and security of the campus community.
The restraining order says Harrison's attacker must stay at least one block away from her. That will be hard to do on campus since it is only one block long.
Harrison returns to court next week to see if a judge will allow her former roommate to stay on campus or be forced to live off-campus.
