Malicious, sexually explicit emails targeting a female Universite de Moncton student may have been long deleted from school inboxes, but other online threats have remained untouched.
Explicit Twitter accounts, YouTube videos and other social media posts were all posted around the same time the emails were sent.
“It's just horrible,” says student Diane LaForest. “That poor girl. She didn't deserve all that.”
In the six months since 10 malicious emails were sent to nearly 2,000 and staff, the victim is believed to have left the school and the province.
Last March, Universite de Moncton president Raymond Theberge said the student received academic concessions and access to counselling, but refused to shut down school servers as the emails came in on a near-daily basis.
“It's an act of sexualized violence,” says Beth Lyons, executive director of the New Brunswick Women’s Council. “Is it acceptable that they didn't turn off the server? Or did they get away with not turning off the server because they're not thinking about it as violence?”
The university declined to comment on what security measures have been installed or what help was provided to the victim, citing an ongoing police investigation. The RCMP also declined an on-camera interview.
The person behind the emails is believed to be in Morocco
“There needs to be a leadership from the administration to really take hold and say, 'Look, we're in control of the situation,’ and really reaffirm and help students know that things are in control, because that was not the case when this happened,” says Student Federation president Tristian Gaudent.
While the incident is now behind them, the school’s Student Federation says it's started a continuing conversation about sexual violence. That’s sparked both a campus-wide consent campaign and the creation of the school's first-ever sexual violence policy, expected to be adopted in December.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Cami Kepke.
