A former Student Senator’s resignation letter accuses University officials of discrimination and drug trafficking. In a letter that was also sent to The Free Press and WMPG via Email, Moses Sawyer charges President Pattenaude with ignoring Sawyer’s letters and visits. In the letter the undeclared sophomore also announces his immediate withdrawal from all classes.
“USM as a whole has demonstrated that they are not willing to combat those issues I ran on. I must withdraw my senator-ship as well as my being a student,” the letter reads. He says he was a victim of discrimination during a trip with the Multicultural Students’ Association to Boston. Sawyer also claims that he has witnessed drug dealing in The Multicultural Center.
According to Sawyer’s letter, Michael Cruz, professor of sociology, told Sawyer “if you are HIV positive then you should not have come to the outing.”
“I have a tendency to get a neuropathy,” Sawyer said. “My muscles get numb and it becomes difficult to walk.” The group, led by Cruz, visited The Boston Aquarium and a nearby IMAX theater. They then walked to a restaurant before driving back to Portland. Between the theater and the restaurant, Sawyer’s symptoms flared up and he asked to take a cab the remaining distance.
“It was a heck of a walk [to the restaurant],” Sawyer recalled. “My leg just wasn’t working. I told everyone very clearly that I was in extreme pain.”
According to the website Webmd (http://www.webmd.com), peripheral neuropathy is a disease of the nervous center that can lead to “muscle weakness; pain; numbness; redness; and/or burning or tingling sensations in the affected areas, especially the arms and legs (extremities).”
In the ensuing argument, Sawyer says, Cruz told Sawyer that he should not have come if he was HIV positive. Sawyer says Cruz also denied his subsequent request to leave the group to go to a hospital.
“He told me, ‘if you leave the group you’ll never go on another trip with the MCC (Multicultural Center) again,” Sawyer said.
Sawyer says he was hospitalized after the trip. Over the remainder of the summer, he says he sent letters and tried to visit President Pattenaude over the issue and was ignored.
“Moses did send a letter via email to the President,” said Craig Hutchinson, vice president for University and Student Life. “He [Pattenaude] asked me to look into the charges made in the letter.” Hutchinson says that Sawyer failed to show up to one meeting, and never rescheduled. “The bottom line is that if Moses or any other student has issues that they feel haven’t been addressed, they can talk to me, but they have to converse with me. Moses has not. I would be glad to talk to him,” said Hutchinson.
Cruz refused an interview with The Free Press. Three students who were on the trip also declined to comment. Another student gave an interview, but requested anonymity. Two students did grant an interview and made a few statements each.
“I didn’t know Moses had the problem with walking or [that he had] HIV,” said the anonymous student. Sawyer claimed otherwise, saying he thought everyone on the trip knew his status.
Krina Patel, second year master’s student and president of The Multicultural Students Association., said, “I really don’t like to side with anyone on this issue because I hate to get involved. . . . I will say that I think the trip could have been handled better.”
Denise Egilmez, junior psychology major, was also on the trip. “If Dr. Cruz doesn’t want to say anything, I don’t want to say anything,” she said.
Sawyer’s statements regarding drug dealing in the Multicultural Center were met with confusion and denial.
“I am in there all the time, and I’ve never seen any drugs,” Patel said. USM Police Chief Lisa Beecher said that there was no record of Sawyer or anyone else reporting drug use to the Police.
“Most people would call the police if they had that kind of information,” she said.
Sawyer says that he has called the police. He says that after he was first interviewed by The Free Press on Oct. 20, he was contacted by multiple university officials in quick succession.
“I think people noticed when you started doing your research,” he said. Chief Beecher called him at 9:17 a.m. on Oct. 21 to tell him she had assigned an officer to investigate his drug allegations. Over the next two hours, Sawyer says, he was contacted by Craig Hutchinson and Lieutenant Stanhope.
John Bronson can be contacted at [email protected]
I wonder if those people @ USM have addressed any of those issues?