Lohman case more than perversion

For two and a half years, Michael Lohman, a Ph.D. student in the applied math department, had been stalking Asian female students. He had been stealing their undergarments, cutting off their hair or squirting his semen and urine on them while riding the shuttle bus and pouring his bodily fluids into their drinks in the Graduate College and Fine Hall.

According to an article in The Advocate, Lohman has been accused of nearly 80 offenses: contaminating about 50 drinks, squirting semen and urine on about 20 women and snipping the hair of at least eight women. "And those are probably conservative numbers," Princeton Borough Police Lt. Dennis McManimon is reported to have said in the same article.

As disgusting as Lohman's offenses may be, equally disturbing is the fact that it took the University and the Department of Public Safety two-and-a-half years to take any serious action. The complaints started coming in as early as October of 2002, when DPS received a report about a white man introducing an unidentified liquid into an Asian woman's drink. Similar incidents of beverage tampering were reported in April 2003 and May 2004. In spite of the striking details they shared, these reports were treated by DPS as isolated incidents. What is one to make of the length of time that elapsed and the number of women who were allowed to be victimized before the authorities finally managed to connect the dots?

How about the fact that it took the University two-and-a half-years to issue a Campus Safety Alert admonishing students to beware of a pervert lurking in their midst? The University and the dorm administrators routinely issue bulletins when less serious events occur, such as the theft of a laptop. At the very least, in the absence of evidence identifying the perpetrator, the University could have advised students to exercise some unusual precaution in the campus dining facilities.

Shock and consternation were among the reactions of Princeton students to the way the University handled the events:

"It actually happened to a friend of mine," wrote a University graduate student in an email, "but she didn't know what he had put in her drink. When she complained to Public Safety, I don't think they even told her that other people were in the same situation."

Lohman's actions fit the federal definition of hate crime: a crime in which the perpetrator selects victims on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability. The fact that he victimized such a large number of women — 80 in all — on the basis of their Asian background underscores the racial motivation behind his crimes. But he has not been charged with committing a hate crime. Neither has he been charged with sexual harassment, even though his crimes were blatantly of a sexual nature.

The fact that Lohman is married to an Asian could, one might say, complicate attempts to classify his acts as hate crime. This does not mitigate his crimes. Whatever feelings he may have for his wife are irrelevant when his actions clearly indicate contempt for Asian women as a group as well as an apparent belief that he could get away with treating these persons in an abusive manner. If he had any doubt in his mind that he could transgress with impunity, it must have been allayed somewhat by the knowledge that he is a white man and his victims are Asian women.

At this time, the judicial outcome of this case remains unclear: whether he will get prosecuted and sentenced, or if he will be allowed to return to Princeton after having been barred from campus.

Also unclear is how the administration will address the vulnerability of Asian women at Princeton in the event that Lohman is permitted to return to campus. As for the victims and witnesses, it is imperative that they come forward, speak out and report to their dean's offices and DPS to help ensure that the case is treated with the seriousness that it merits.

The grand jury hearing on Michael Lohman is imminent. Victims and witnesses who have not already done so should immediately contact the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office (609-989-6309).

Gladys Um received her MA at Princeton in 2003.