The U.S. Attorney’s office of the District of Columbia dropped all charges against Philip Cooney (MSB ‘10) relating to an assault that occurred last fall which attracted controversy on and off campus.

Cooney was charged with bias-related assault by the Metropolitan Police Department last September, but the U.S. Attorney reported that “subsequent investigation raised doubts as to … whether based upon available evidence we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant in this case was the person who actually committed the assault.”

“Philip was always completely innocent of the charges against him and the dismissal of the case has vindicated him entirely,” Danny Onorato, Cooney’s lawyer, wrote in a statement. “To know Philip Cooney is to know a young man of exemplary character who was wrongfully accused in this case.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office has indicated that they continue to consider the assault, in which a male Georgetown student was beaten by an assailant who shouted anti-gay slurs, a criminal act. Cooney was originally implicated in the assault through a Facebook.com profile and, later, a police photo line-up. During the pre-trial period, the prosecuting Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Mary Dobbie and Joseph Spurber, determined that they would not be able to firmly establish that Cooney was present at the time of the assault.

Neither Cooney nor the spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office were available for comment. It is not clear at this time if any investigation into the assault will continue.

For the Voice’s comprehensive coverage of the case, click here. Check this blog and Thursday’s edition for more information on the dropped charges.

I’m not trying to kick up an alarmist sandstorm here, but if you’re one of the 6,137 undergrads who were notified that their social security numbers and/or other personal information may have been stolen as part of the heist of an external hard drive from the Office of Student Affairs, it’s probably worth trying to protect yourself. Though Georgetown’s campus-wide e-mail said no credit card information was stolen, your information could be used to take out lines of credit in your name (such as loans).

The first step is to put a 90-day fraud alert out with the 3 major credit bureaus; this will prevent new lines of credit from being taken out in your name without your first confirming them by phone. Call Equifax at 1-800-525-6285 to begin the alert; they’ll contact Experian and TransUnion (the other 2 bureaus) to make it universal.

Second, Visa’s fraud center told me that identity thieves and other bad guys will use your information to pose as you, call in, and find out your credit card info. Call your credit card company to place a password on your account, which is more secure than the typical “mother’s maiden name” question used to verify by default. Credit card companies are already diligent fraud monitors, so they’ll probably call anyway if a strange-looking charge appears on your account.

I don’t know the chances of your info being used to nefarious ends (who’s to say what they really are, anyway?), but there’s no harm in protecting yourself. It should only take 20 minutes or so (based on past experience), and will be a lot less painful than trying to deal with the repercussions should your info actually be used.

It’s particularly galling, in light of our recent editorial on the subject, to see D.C. police apparently discounting a rape allegation from an intoxicated woman. Even worse was their response to a local do-gooder who brought a female officer to the scene to try to get the victim some aid—they handcuffed him and roughed him up a little before sending him on his way. The incident took place in Adams Morgan, a night-life district frequented by Georgetown students. The police district in question is investigating what happened that night, so we’ll see if any of the officers involved receive reprimands. Oh, and the police involved were part of Chief Cathy Lanier’s “All Hands on Deck” Intiative, which is supposed to “improve community policing.”

—Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief

The case of six swastikas drawn on a George Washington freshman’s door may have a culprit—the freshman herself. The GW Hatchet is reporting that GW police are blaming Sarah Marshak for the swastikas.

Marshak was caught drawing the swastikas by a camera set up in her hallway. Things aren’t going to go well for her now, it seems. The Hatchet reports she’ll probably be expelled. The FBI got involved in her case when they thought it was real, and they won’t be pleased. She says she only drew a few of the swastikas and was just trying to make GW pay attention to the first real swastika she says was drawn on her door.

Marshak was a reporter for the Hatchet, which you’ll notice they don’t mention in the latest article now that she’s disgraced. I guess they enjoyed the easy access to a hate crime victim as long as she was reputable.
Also, why are swastikas the fake hate crime of choice for attention-seekers?

-Will Sommer, blog editor

When Georgetown environmental group EcoAction sent out an email Wednesday asking people on their email list to steal apples from Leo’s for a booth at the UNICEF carnival, it must’ve seemed harmless. Who hasn’t taken cookies home for later, or brought Tupperware in a backpack for larger-scale larceny? Two people EcoAction CC’d disagreed–an Aramark representative and Margie Bryant, Vice President of Auxiliary Services, the department in charge of Leo’s. Internet drama ensued!

Margie hit “reply all” and ripped EcoAction, saying they weren’t making friends in the administration (does this mean no more LCD screens?).

Tripti Bhattacharya (SFS ‘10), EcoAction’s president, said it was “just a misunderstanding.” But the emails make clear that neither Bryant or EcoAction are confused about their positions (anti- and pro-apple theft, respectively). When I mentioned to Bhattacharya that I had seen the emails, she just said “Oh” and there was a long pause. Bryant didn’t respond in time for this post.

In the end EcoAction got the apples from Georgetown’s other fruit monger, Mission Three, and the UNICEF booth was saved. But will EcoAction ever get to hawk their environment petitions in Leo’s again?
Emails and commentary after the jump.

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UPDATE: Pride co-President Scott Chessare (COL ‘10) has sent out a letter to administrators and media outlets; it is posted below the jump.

The two co-Presidents of GU Pride, along with Bill McCoy, the part-time coordinator of LGBTQ resources on campus, are in Chicago at DePaul University tonight, attending a conference on LGBTQ issues on Catholic campuses. I just received an e-mail from Olivia Chitayat (COL ‘10), one of the co-Presidents. Though obviously dismayed by the incident, she’s happy that the University got the news out faster this time (”Five days is better than three weeks”); interestingly, she says McCoy hadn’t heard about the incident yet. You’d think the University would want to tell him. More from Chitayat:

The University can’t just say that we do not tolerate homophobia on this campus and expect the culture to change. … These incidents are going to keep occurring, they already occur every day, [until] we step in and start talking about the issue, start providing safe spaces for members of the community, start listening to the needs of people that live and breathe on this campus and MAKE A CHANGE. We have to keep talking and keep pushing people out of their boundaries until everyone realizes that homophobia will not and cannot be tolerated, until everyone understands why treating a member of the community in such a disrespectful, hateful, and violent manner is unacceptable.

We’ll be reporting as much as we can on this issue tomorrow, so keep an eye on the blog.

- Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief

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Looks like homophobia on campus isn’t limited to September 9’s assault. Two men said homophobic slurs and pushed another person against a wall Sunday morning, according to a University Public Safety alert sent out Thursday night:

A complainant reported to DPS that at approximately 2:34 a.m., he was approached by two unknown males as he walked up Lauinger library steps. The suspects made homophobic remarks and followed the complainant to the Healy building. The suspects pushed the complainant into the side of the building and blew smoke in his face.

Nothing was taken, and the victim wasn’t injured. It’s not clear if anyone involved is a student.

It’s more depressing to see this happen again than it was to hear about the first hate crime, because at least that could have been as an isolated incident. The administration seems to be handling this faster and with more transparency than the last hate crime, and they’ll be more likely to agree to Pride’s reasonable request more LGBTQ resources in the wake of the previous assault.

Shame on the school for not having a DPS officer at the steps 24 hours a day. It seems like most assaults and muggings happen there, but Vice President of Public Safety Rocco DelMonaco only suggests “more education.” Also, the safety alert’s recommendations to students for avoiding future incidents? Call DPS and Saferides if something bad happens, and don’t prop your windows open!

-Will Sommer, blog editor

So, everyone on campus—or at least everyone who works for the Voice—is waiting with bated breath to see whether or not Jack DeGioia will deign to speak at GU Pride’s Coming Out Week forum tomorrow night. The prez addressed the hate crime today in a campus-wide email, saying…well, not much. Aside from declaring that hate crimes and homophobia will not be tolerated (a no-brainer) DeGioia declined to discuss any concrete actions for preventing these incidents in the future or actually changing the campus culture. A couple of Hoyas decided to take matters into their own hands by starting a Facebook group taking Jack to task for his most recent spin-doctored missive. Sure, the group only has two members for now, but you know how fast these things grow.

Anna Bank, Editorial Board Chair

The latest news about the bias-related incident that spurred Monday’s campus rally: The as-yet-unidentified victim found alleged assailant Philip Cooney (MSB ‘10) not just on Facebook, but also in an MPD photo line-up. Here’s Sam Sweeney’s web exclusive. Be sure to keep an eye on the blog and Thursday’s edition of the paper for more news on this developing story.

- Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief

Look, I don’t want to be “that guy”, but how are we all forgetting what happened at Duke University last fall? I shouldn’t have to remind anyone about that case, but I will. Three innocent students were prematurely indicted by an out-of-line rogue attorney, and his manipulation of evidence captivated the entire country while completely destroying the lives of those kids.

And though this is to an admittedly smaller degree, at least on the national scale, it seems like the same kind of case. It’s the accused’s word versus the word of the accuser. How can we arbitrarily side with the accuser just because the media has so willingly done so? And as for using Facebook as a way to identify someone who attacked you in a flash in the dark of night? Please.

Despite what this looks like, I’m not taking sides, but it seems I’m about the only person remaining neutral. As far as I can remember, people in the United States are always innocent until proven guilty, and nothing at all has been proven. While hateful slurs have no place in our society, due process does, and we need to heed the lessons learned from the Duke case and wait this out before we destroy the potentially good name of one of our own.

-Justin Scott, staff writer