Stetson's administration denied claims of sexual harassment after two Public Safety officers allegedly keyed into a room where two students were sleeping in only their underwear.
"Nothing was done that was wrong," said Duane Knecht, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management. "I believe that the officers did what was right, and I do not believe they should have done anything differently."
The denial came in response to a complaint filed in early March by Elizabeth Keys against two Public Safety officers, Adam Nudecker and Mike Rich. Keys claims that she was sleeping Fraternity House B with her boyfriend, Mike Gallarello, when Nudecker and Rich keyed into the room.
Gallarello held the door shut and repeatedly yelled "You can't come in!" as Keys attempted to dress, but the officers continued to push the door open, according to Keys.
The officers were instructed not to speak to The Reporter, but Knecht insists that Keys's story is untrue. "They [Nudecker and Rich] did not see her in any indecent dress," he said.
Knecht said that the officers responded to a loud female voice within the room and that the situation was Keys's fault because she was violating fraternity visiting hours. "Choosing to ignore University policy… was the driving force behind the situation," he said in an email.
Keys claims that the loud female voice was not her's, but a DVD that was playing on repeat. She said that she understood that she violated visitation hours but still felt "threatened, uncomfortable, and violated."
There is no written policy for dealing with situations like this, according to Public Safety Captain Kerry Davis. He said that there are certain safety measures in place and that "if we hadn't tried to open the door, we wouldn't have been acting appropriately, because you never know what might have been."
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