She was walking home from campus around 5:30. She had stayed after class to meet a friend and they went to a VIU event, light up and had hot chocolate and marshmallows. She was near building 205, so was pretty central.
A creep with his pants down and his erect junk in hand made some lewd comments.
She looked around and realized quickly she was alone and started to head home but then was looking behind her to see if he was following. Panic definitely set in. She saw two women exiting the building and went to them asking if they were employees. They were and realized immediately that something was wrong. They took her in immediately and got the dean of that faculty. Security was called. The dean herself went out searching for him.
A report was made. They took it all very seriously. Offering to have security walk her home. Set up escorts for all future classes. As well as counseling. She told them she just wanted to go home and call her parents.
The dean drove her home. She was definitely scared for her life. She is absolutely traumatized. There will be a lot of processing for her about this. Having a mom warn you about creeps is totally different than meeting one a few feet away from you in the dark when you are alone. She is very aware that things could have gone very badly for her.
I was worried she would stay quiet and let rape culture survive. She hasn't. She sent this message to a bunch of her friends.
"Hey all (sending this to multiple people). So tonight I was flashed and did fear for my life a bit. Indecent exposure it’s called — “when someone commits exposure if they intentionally expose their genitals and intend that someone will see them and be cause alarm or distress.”
I’m now safely back inside my building. But tonight, on the VIU campus, a man I walked past (closely) pulled out his penis and said “you wanna suck it?” and followed up with “do you like it?” “do you like it?” as I was fast walking away. His penis was erect.
Thankfully I wasn’t physically harmed or chased by him, but it could have gone south very fast if he chose to. I have talked with viu employees and have filed a report. Security will be increased.
Please be aware and make safety plans if you’re planning to go out."
We don't know if VIU will make a statement or stay quiet. I think VIU should be sending an email to every single student with a message to be aware. Lili will be contacted tomorrow by the department who deals with such matters. I don't know if rcmp were notified. She was told security was looking for him and they would increase their patrols.
White male with a bike and backpack wearing a toque and dark clothing.
So now it's 2 in the morning and I can't sleep. All the what if's keep coming up for me. Luckily today was Lili's last in person class for the term. She promised me she would stay in. She has an exam to do online tomorrow.
I'm so incredibly grateful she kept her wits through the panic and she is home safe.
Fei also had a traumatizing day. She saw someone have a 25 minute seizure. That would be a hard watch. The patient was alert and talking when Fei left for the day.
In other news I got a lot of paperwork done during the day. Jia did a book report on the book we just listened too. She didn't follow the instructions from her teacher, at all. She did things her way. It's a start. I resisted the urge to clean for the house keeper, or in truth actually just ran out of steam and time.
Eric decorated Oscar with his Christmas finery. He altered and installed a pet mat seat cover on the back seat to protect the fabric from accidents. He got the new horn working and then came in to make us all dinner. He then made Isabel's food and bagged it for the freezer. He makes a weeks worth at a time. When I went to bed he was taking the guest bed apart and removing pet gates. We have room for the tree! Heck of a mess in Lili's two rooms still to deal with but at least it's started.
