By CYRUS SIBERT:
Child protection advocates urge Juanita James, Fairfield University commencement speaker, to use her bully pulpit to advocate for immediate mental health treatment for children in Haiti who were sexually abused on Fairfield University’s watch / Children in poverty stricken Haiti deserve no less care and attention than children in affluent Fairfield County (https://fccfoundation.org/)
[Photo] Fairfield University alumnus, Paul Kendrick, advocates for justice for child sexual abuse victims in Haiti at main entrance to Fairfield University campus. University officials will stop, frisk and arrest Kendrick if he steps foot on campus again.
OPEN LETTER TO FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY
May 8, 2017
Kevin P. Lawlor
Executive Vice President COO
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT
Dear Mr. Lawlor,
I am in receipt of your 28 April letter informing me that I am no longer allowed on Fairfield University property and will be subject to arrest if I step foot on campus.
I am a member of the Fairfield University Class of 1972.
By your order, Mr. Lawlor, you are effectively barring me from attending my 45th class reunion in June.
Therefore, I am requesting that you be more specific and detailed about your mandate:
“I am writing to advise you that due to your continuous disruptive activities over an extensive period of time…the Department of Public Safety at Fairfield University has issued a Criminal Trespass Warning…you are prohibited from entering Fairfield University’s campus and are subject to arrest.” Kevin Lawlor, Fairfield University COO
Please help me better understand. What are the “continuous disruptive activities” you speak of, Mr. Lawlor?
Is it possible that you are referring to my eight years of persistent and forceful advocacy on behalf of the now identified 150 terribly wounded child sexual victims, children who were raped and sodomized by a Fairfield University alumnus at a boarding school in northern Haiti, a school operated under the auspices of Jesuit run Fairfield University and the Jesuits of New England?
It is interesting for me to note, Mr. Lawlor, that you state in your letter that the aforementioned “Criminal Trespass Warning shall remain in effect until such time as it is suspended or superceded.”
I have to wonder what demands you would impose upon me for you to rescind the trespass order, thus making way for me to attend my 45th class reunion?
• Would you have me sign a document, Mr. Lawlor, in which I pledge to never again advocate for justice on behalf of the poor, frightened, homeless street kids in Haiti who were sexually abused on Fairfield University’s watch?
• Would I have to raise my right hand, Mr. Lawlor, and swear to God that I will never again speak out loud about the deceptive and manipulative hardball legal tactics being employed by you against 50 of the abuse victims who are currently seeking civil justice for their harms and injuries in a court of law?
• Would I have to agree, Mr. Lawlor, to never again beg and plead with you to provide funding so that these traumatized sexual abuse victims in Haiti can begin to receive therapy and counseling in the same way that a student or former student who reports abuse at Fairfield Prep would be treated?
My Jesuit teachers at Cheverus High School and Fairfield University taught me that the service of my faith must include the promotion of justice.
Could it be, Mr, Lawlor, that I have advocated for nothing more that decent, fair and just treatment for these abuse victims too loudly for your good taste, or that I have been too forceful with my words, or perhaps even, I have spoken out on behalf of the victims for far too long – in your mind I should have given up and shut up long ago?
The kids who were abused at the Fairfield University operated school in Haiti, Mr. Lawlor, were thrown back into the dangerous streets when the school was forced to close because of the abuse of the children.
These kids sleep on rooftops, they are hungry all the time, they have no money for school. One of the boys I met, an abuse victim, and just 14 years old, is infected with syphilis.
I cannot recall, Mr. Lawlor, you ever asking to meet with me to discuss these tragic issues face to face.
You never called and said, “How can we at Fairfield University provide comfort, care and aid for these boys?
Instead, you must have closed your eyes and blocked your ears all these many years during which I have asked you, begged you, yes, at times shouted at you, over and over again, to be responsible and accountable, to willingly and lovingly provide a measure of justice to these hurting, suffering and abused children in Haiti – children who the Fairfield University community failed to protect and then ran away from and ignored when they first cried out for help.
I know. I was there.
I look forward, Mr Lawlor, to your timely response.
Sincerely,
Paul Kendrick
Fairfield University, ’72
207-838-1319
Trustees | Fairfield University, Connecticut
https://www.fairfield.edu/about-fairfield/leadership-offices/trustees/
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/New-Haiti-suits-level-claims-against-Rev-Carrier-2444084.php
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/New-Haiti-suits-level-claims-against-Rev-Carrier-2444084.php
http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/At-Fairfield-University-praise-for-Perlitz-621040.php
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2010/07_08/2010_08_31_Kendrick_FairfieldUniversity.htm