University debater assaulted at Penn

A Princeton debate team member was assaulted early Saturday morning while staying in a dormitory at the University of Pennsylvania.

John Brantl '05 was sleeping in a dormitory in the Undergraduate Quadrangle with other Princeton debate members when five individuals entered his room and kicked him, doused him with motor oil and threatened him, Brantl said.

About 15 members of the Debate Panel were attending the Penn Pro-Am debate tournament, said Jeff Sandman, a Penn freshman and host of the students in his building.

Penn Police officials did not return phone calls yesterday afternoon, and a detective for the department declined to comment last night.

Around 3 a.m. Saturday, a man began harassing the sleeping Princeton students by turning the lights on and off and telling them to leave, Brantl said.

Brantl said the man left after he was asked to stop. However, about an hour later the person returned with four companions.

Sandman said he believed these individuals were all Penn students, though he did not witness the incident.

"My understanding is that drunk Penn frat kids came into the room and were being obnoxious," Sandman said.

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Brantl said he was awakened by one of the individuals shaking him. Some of the others began kicking him. They threw some objects at him and poured a pint of motor oil on his face, he said.

Additionally, they forced him to apologize on his knees and to promise never to return to Penn, he said.

One individual also threatened to set the motor oil on fire with a match, Brantl said. The assailant was apparently unaware that motor oil will not burn at most temperatures.

The assailants left, and the Princeton students called the police. The Daily Pennsylvanian reported Monday that the police arrested one of the individuals at the scene, but Brantl contradicted this account, saying no arrests were made.

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Penn police did question one person but he was later released, said Lori Doyle, a Penn spokeswoman.

Some Princeton debate members, including Brantl, did not participate in the remainder of the tournament on Saturday, Sandman said.

The room where the students were put up for the night did not have a locking door to keep out intruders, and the door to the Quadrangle courtyard had a broken lock, Brantl said.

(Information provided by The Daily Pennsylvanian was used in this report.)