Notre Dame Preparatory School in Baltimore and the University of Virginia — murder victim Yeardley Love’s prep school and college — are ramping up efforts to curb dating violence in response to the lacrosse player’s brutal slaying.
Notre Dame Prep — where Love graduated in 2006 — is bringing in Baltimore’s former drug czar for an extensive anti-substance abuse campaign, The Washington Examiner has learned.
And U.Va. is now requiring students to report whether they have been arrested before they can access their school accounts.
The schools are revamping efforts against dangerous behavior after police found 22-year-old Love beaten to death in her Charlottesville apartment May 3 and charged her former boyfriend, fellow U.Va. lacrosse player George Huguely V, with first degree murder in her death.
At Love’s alma mater, Notre Dame Prep has asked Mike Gimbel — Baltimore’s former director of substance abuse — to conduct four days of anti-drug seminars in the fall targeting faculty, students and parents.
“It’s the first time I’ve been reached out to like this,” said Gimbel, who heads Gimbel and Associates, a substance abuse and education consulting firm in Towson, Md.
Gimbel said he wants to give NDP students a “reality check.”
NDP holds annual substance-abuse seminars for sophomores — but this year the campaign will involve the entire school, said NDP spokeswoman Cami Colarossi.
Landon School, Huguely’s Bethesda prep school, also is looking for ways to strengthen drug and alcohol education, according to Landon spokeswoman Jean Erstling. The school is considering inviting Beth Kane-Davidson, the director of a local addiction treatment program, to address substance abuse with juniors and seniors. Freshmen already are required to take a class on drug and alcohol abuse.
In the wake of Love’s death, the University of Virginia was stung by criticism that the school was unaware of Huguely’s troubled past. In 2008, the Chevy Chase native was Tasered and cuffed after drunkenly threatening to kill a female police officer in Lexington, Va. One month later, Huguely’s father called police for help when the youth leapt off the family yacht in a fit of rage. In 2007, Huguely was charged with possession of alcohol as a minor.
U.Va. has required students to report arrests since 2004, but Huguely never disclosed his record.
University officials say the revised policy will encourage more accountability.
“It’s an important first step,” said S. Daniel Carter, policy director for Security on Campus Inc., a nonprofit that studies safety on American campuses. “I’m still waiting to hear their plan to address partner violence.”
Virginia’s Office of the Dean of Students will review student disclosures and determine whether “additional follow-up” is needed, said U.Va. spokeswoman Carol Wood.
“That’s just a cop-out,” said Diane Auer Jones, former assistant to the secretary of higher education for the U.S. Department of Education. “Clearly there were people in the athletic program that knew [Huguely’s] temperament. [U.Va. officials] really need to be looking at their athletic program. I’m not sure his arrest record would have indicated he would have murdered his girlfriend.”
