Investigator of Babson students a Hillary backer
The chief Babson College official investigating two students accused of hurling racist and homophobic slurs after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory declared her avid support of Hillary Clinton on Twitter the day before the incident.
Jaclyn Calovine, Babson’s associate director of community standards, is the official complainant against the students on behalf of the college, charging them with harassment and disorderly conduct.
She tweeted on Election Day: “My 82 year old, Puerto Rican grandmother just voted for @HillaryClinton .... and that’s the best tweet I’ve ever written. #ImWithHer.”
The next day, the two students, Parker Rand-Ricciardi and Edward Tomasso, were accused of everything from spitting at students at Wellesley College, Clinton’s alma mater, to shouting racial epithets in front of a building where black students had gathered.
Calovine recently switched her Twitter account to private, meaning only people she allows can see her tweets. She did not respond to a request for comment. Babson College also declined to address Calovine’s publicly declared political sympathies in a statement to the Herald, instead describing her as “an experienced and highly trained investigator.”
“When appointed as an investigator, her role includes gathering, summarizing and, when applicable, presenting relevant facts and evidence to the hearing body that determines whether or not College standards have been violated,” Babson spokesman Michael Chmura said in a statement.
“In all cases,” the statement continues, “members of the Community Standards team adhere to Babson College’s rigorous policies and procedures to ensure a thorough and fair investigation and, when required, adjudication process.”
The Herald reported yesterday that school officials told the lawyer representing one student that both young men were cleared of the most grievous allegations against them in a campus police probe that Babson refuses to release.
Rand-Ricciardi’s lawyer, Jeffrey Robbins, accuses Babson in a Dec. 5 letter of prejudging the students, citing a series of public statements by Babson officials, including school president Kerry Healey calling the two students’ actions “highly offensive, incredibly insensitive, and simply not acceptable.”
Calovine’s boss, Colleen Ryan, told Robbins she wanted to re-open the investigation because she was not “satisfied” with the public safety reports.
Robbins, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and occasional Herald columnist, has refused to comment.
Both students, who received death threats, have apologized on Facebook for inadvertently causing pain to certain people in Wellesley. The two have not been charged with any crime.
Also yesterday, Healey declined the Herald’s request for an in-person interview, but issued a statement saying the college will “neither rush to judgment, nor shrink from our duty to conduct a full investigation due to pressure from internal or external sources.”
“It is important to note, however, that we have high standards for our students’ behavior and these are laid out clearly in Babson College’s Community Standards,” the statement reads, adding the college expects students to “engage in all instances with civility, compassion and respect.”