Recently, an independent report commissioned by the University of Utah concluded that the response to University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey’s pleas for help was mishandled in many ways.
In spite of this report, University of Utah President Ruth Watkins made the remarkable statement that the report “does not offer any reason to believe that anything the university could have done would have prevented Miss McCluskey’s murder.”
This questionable conclusion is an affront to the McCluskey family and is little more than a thinly disguised attempt to deflect blame from the University of Utah and reduce the possibility of litigation.
Watkins also indicated that no disciplinary action is planned for any of the University of Utah employees who failed to respond in a timely manner to McCluskey’s many phone calls. Watkins has implied that a “lack of training” was probably responsible for this failure.
What was really lacking in this tragic incident was common sense and the initiative to take meaningful action.
No one can place a value on a human life, especially for one as young as Lauren McCluskey. However, I hope her parents are amply compensated for the pain and suffering caused by the murder of their daughter, something the University of Utah should have prevented.
Larry Seeborg, Sandy