Be patient as students
get settled into town
It’s an exciting time as West Virginia University welcomes students to campus for the start of the 2019-20 academic year.
While this time of year brings a lot of energy and excitement, we recognize that it also can bring a few challenges as an estimated 5,600 new students are arriving on campus. It is our goal to make the experience as seamless as possible with limited interruptions for all. Most of our new students will move in on the weekend (Saturday), which should lessen the impact on traffic.
Events will begin Friday, and continue through the start of classes on Wednesday. We ask for everyone’s patience as we help students get settled and welcome them to their new home.
We also ask motorists in the greater Morgantown community to be extra cautious when approaching crosswalks and high foot-traffic areas used by students. We encourage our students to be mindful when walking and know that we all play a part in keeping them safe.
As part of the Welcome Week experience, students will be completing service projects around campus and in the Morgantown community. Be sure to say hello and feel free to join in the clean-ups if you see them in your neighborhoods.
Sunday night, students will enjoy Mountaineer MovieFest and Student Organization Fair at the WVU Coliseum.
Monday night, new students will be at Milan Puskar Stadium for Monday Night Lights.
Tuesday night brings the popular FoodFest and FallFest event. The location for FallFest will be the Student Recreation Fields on the Evansdale area of campus.
See the full schedule of Welcome Week events at welcomeweek.wvu.edu.
We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we start a new academic year. Let’s Go!
G. Corey Farris
WVU dean of students
Morgantown
Victim blaming as vile as
the sexual abuse itself
I am writing today with outrage at the letter you published entitled “Though our faith is tested we need to persevere.” While bracketed with pious words, it is perhaps the worst instance of victim-blaming that I have ever encountered in print. This deeply misguided writer claims that the parents of children who were raped by religious leaders were in part responsible because they left them at the church.
I thought it apparent and I should not even need to say this, but victims are not responsible for the trauma inflicted upon them and parents are not responsible for the sexual violation of their children by anyone in a position of authority, ever, no matter what. Period.
By this logic, the victims of the recent mass shooting in El Paso were partly responsible for their deaths because they chose to go shopping without wearing body armor. They should have known better. Isn’t it a little bit their fault for not recognizing that their bodies could be pierced by bullets and they didn’t protect themselves?
As a Catholic, I believe that we need to support our faith, but our faith is a belief in Jesus Christ, which is not equivalent to religious leaders who protect predators and turn their backs on corruption and abuse. It is our duty as Catholics to support victims of any abuse and to call out corruption and hypocrisy.
The measure of our faith is how firmly we dedicate ourselves to the Christian values of mercy, justice and compassion. Being a faithful Catholic today means demanding that our leaders live and practice these values and no other.
If they do not, then it is our duty to call them out and hold them accountable to the Gospel they profess. Prayer alone without accountability is only a recipe for continued abuse and corruption. It will not “all just work out.”
Ask Jim Jones’ 900 victims or any victim of clergy sexual abuse if it all just worked out. Passive, pietistic victim-blaming is as vile as the abuse itself and I am surprised this paper dared to publish such filth.
Robert Choiniere
Brooklyn, N.Y.
