University of Rhode Island students remain unaware of the ongoing litigation involving a Providence man accused of recording a student in the bathroom of Adams Hall, despite recent media coverage across New England.
The plaintiff entered a gender-neutral bathroom in Adams Hall and entered the shower, according to the lawsuit filed by an unnamed student. While showering, the plaintiff noticed the shower next to her was occupied.
The water was not running and the occupant appeared to still be clothed, according to the plaintiff. She then looked up and alleged she saw a phone camera pointed at her and confronted the man. The man was later identified by the plaintiff as James Paquette, who apologized and fled.
The lawsuit, filed in August, claims the university and the Board of Trustees failed to notify students of the incident or ensure Paquette could not return to campus. The victim is suing Paquette, the university and the Board of Trustees on eight counts, including defamation.
In the lawsuit, the victim claims that the university “falsely, carelessly and negligently represented to third parties that the alleged perpetrator was ‘known’ to the victim.”
Only four out of the 18 students interviewed by The Good 5 Cent Cigar were aware of the lawsuit. None of these four received their information from the university.
Madison Costello, a first-year student who lives in Adams Hall, said she heard about the incident in passing from a resident advisor but otherwise did not know anything.
While Costello generally feels safe living on a co-ed floor, she is unsure about sharing bathrooms with men.
Resident advisors claimed to have not been alerted by the school to the lawsuit, but otherwise declined to comment.
The university declined to comment on ongoing litigation.
One student living in Adams heard the news in her hometown in Massachusetts. She claimed that the school had turned some of the women’s bathrooms into gender-neutral ones, which allows anyone of any gender identity to use it.
“Guys come in in their underwear,” she said. “And it’s very uncomfortable.”
Another pair of Adams residents were completely unaware of the lawsuit. Both live on women’s floors, so they feel safer, but the lack of doors on the showers concerns them.
“It’s not as worrying [because it’s an all women’s floor], but it’s two flimsy curtains,” One said.
Bathrooms in Peck, Hillside, Butterfield and Adams halls have two curtains in place of doors on the showers, according to students interviewed by The Cigar.
James Hogan, who lives in the University Gateway Apartments, said he had no issues while living in Hillside Hall last year. He was also unaware of the lawsuit.
“The shower I used had two curtains spaced a foot apart,” Hogan said. “If someone were to pull the first curtain back, we had time to react before they could pull the second.”
Alexi Clouse, a second-year student living off-campus, lived in Peck Hall last year.
“The bathroom I used was gendered, the only issues I had with it was sometimes they would leave the doors open which would feel weird,” Clouse said. “The curtains didn’t bother me too much. There were two layers of curtains. Sometimes it would be annoying trying to keep them closed all the way, there would always be a little crack. I can imagine how scary that would be in a co-ed [bathroom] though.”
Clouse, like most of the other students interviewed, had never heard of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that the school failed to notify any students about the incident. Students on campus, including those living in Adams Hall, have not received any communication regarding the incident from the school.
