After a Tisch sophomore woke up to her roommate urinating on her in their Broome Street dorm last week, NYU’s campus safety, residential life and student conduct departments have offered little-to-no support in response to her repeated safety concerns, the student told WSN. NYU countered the student’s allegations and said it “has taken the matter seriously.”
The student, Eloni Belcher, said she woke up around 5:26 a.m. on April 12 to her roommate squatting over her and urinating on her arms. Belcher said her roommate — who appeared to be drunk — seemed surprised that she had woken up. She said she immediately got up to wash off the urine and clean the soiled mattress and bedsheets that “smelled so rancid.”
“I was freaked out — so I got up, and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and then she says, ‘Oh, sorry,’” Belcher said. “I was just in shock, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’”
Belcher said she and her roommate have maintained a good relationship since moving in together last semester, but that the incident may have stemmed from a disagreement the day before. Belcher said she texted her roommate, who frequently spoke loudly on the phone, asking them to lower their volume because it could be “disruptive” and “frustrating.”
That afternoon, Belcher said she contacted the Department of Campus Safety about the incident and was told to meet with two officers at Carlyle Court. Belcher said that the officers filed a report with NYU and called the New York City Police Department — but after waiting for nearly an hour, they dismissed her and said “it wasn’t worth waiting for the police.”
In a statement to WSN, NYU spokesperson John Beckman refuted Belcher’s claims that administrators showed little interest in her situation and said the Office of Student Conduct was involved immediately.
“Given the concerns raised, we want to emphasize that the university has taken this matter seriously since it came to our attention,” Beckman said. “Safety is our top priority — always.”
In an April 12 email obtained by WSN, Gramercy Green hall director Chelsea Whitaker suggested Belcher file her own police report because law enforcement cannot enter NYU residence halls, which she did later that evening. She said the police struggled to determine how to classify her case, but ultimately categorized it as harassment. After Belcher filed police reports at two additional police precincts the next day, both precincts classified the incident as harassment, which generally gets less penalty time than sexual assault.
After Belcher requested temporary housing, residence hall director Devin Budhram told her that his office could permanently relocate her to a new unit in Broome Street but that “temporary spaces are not available at this time,” according to an email exchange obtained by WSN. However, Assistant Director of Student Conduct Jorgé Almonte-Florimon said that she had “declined” temporary housing in an email later that week.
“I am seeing how incompetent they’re being about this whole situation,” Belcher said. “I do not feel like, from my point of view, that the university is helping me. So that was putting my safety at risk and on the line and they could have handled that so much better.”
Belcher said that when she met with the OSC on April 15, staff members said they had not started investigating her situation, despite previously affirming that they would begin the day before. She also said that the OSC has not visited her dorm or evaluated any evidence, such as her soiled bedsheet or the shirt she was wearing.
That same day, Belcher publicly detailed the incident with her roommate in an Instagram video that has received over 16,000 views. In the video, Belcher criticized NYU’s handling of the incident and said that her roommate should be the one to move out of their dorm. In an April 17 email, Almonte-Florimon told Belcher that the university has issued a “no contact directive” between her and her roommate, which prohibited both students from “initiating or continuing any contact or communication,” even through third parties.
Belcher said that her roommate’s family and friends have continued to send her threatening messages and comments on her social media posts. In text messages obtained by WSN, the roommate’s friends called Belcher’s actions “despicable,” accused her of spreading “lies” and threatened “legal action.” Her roommate’s mother also requested to speak with Belcher’s mother, claiming that the posts had led her daughter “to receive death threats.”
On Monday afternoon, Almonte-Florimon informed Belcher that the OSC received an incident report claiming she perpetuated “online behavior that constitutes harassment” toward another student, according to an email obtained by WSN. Belcher said the report is likely referring to a TikTok video, which has garnered nearly 4 million views, in which she detailed that her roommate was present while she moved out — despite Almonte-Florimon’s assurance that would not be the case.
“It’s just ridiculous,” Belcher said. “I don’t know why I would lie about this and ruin my whole life with three weeks of school left.”
Belcher said that as she was moving out of her Broome Street dorm, she had asked the residence hall director to escort her roommate out of the room because she was afraid. However, Belcher said that the staff member refused to do so, alleging that the OSC did not previously specify that the roommate needed to leave the dorm at that time.
“All of this has fallen on me — nothing has fallen on the person that did this to me,” Belcher said. “I’m being punished by the administration for being assaulted on campus and that’s horrible.”
Contact Amanda Chen at [email protected].
