By Arielle Aronson and Tim Healey/DFP Staff
Throughout the fall semester, members of the No. 9 Boston University men’s hockey team – living in the same building where then senior forward Corey Trivino allegedly sexually harassed a female student on Dec. 11 – had consistently exhibited inappropriate behavior, building residents said.
The 21-year-old Trivino’s arrest on charges of breaking and entering, assault and battery and assault to rape painted a picture of an isolated incident of inappropriate behavior from one of the hockey team’s brightest stars.
After the arrest, however, The Daily Free Press learned that Trivino’s behavior on the night of the arrest was an exaggerated example of commonplace behavior on that floor.
Residents of the building told The DFP while they never experienced a player attempting to assault them, issues with players bothering girls on the floor was a large problem that dated back to the beginning of the semester.
The residents asked to remain anonymous in fear of getting involved in “drama” concerning the still-open legal case – Trivino’s next court date is set for Jan. 18 – but they said some of the players were often disruptive, made lewd comments and knocked on girls’ doors.
Residents said the players would ask for condoms or see if the girls would let the barely dressed players into their rooms. If residents did not open their doors, they said, the players would leave. But the noisy behavior, which commonly occurred on weeknights, was a nuisance.
“They’re always running through the hallways and banging on our door, banging on other peoples’ doors in the hallways,” an anonymous resident said. “The Resident Advisor would have to come out and tell them like, ‘Guys, be quiet.’”
In October, the RA sent an email to everyone on the floor stating her floor was not a zoo and implored them to “stop behaving like animals,” the residents said. The residents originally volunteered to provide a copy of the email to The DFP, but later rescinded their offer.
The email did not stop the players’ behavior. The residents said the RA was constantly leaving her room to yell at the rowdy players and attempting to quiet them down.
When asked to describe which players ran through the halls and disturbed girls on the floor, residents did not describe Trivino. They did not recognize a description of Trivino and said they had personally never seen him behaving inappropriately in the hall.
Residents on other floors of the building did not report the same problems, and said players on their floors never ran loudly through the halls and were always well behaved. Many residents of the building said they were unaware they lived on the same floor as hockey players.
The residents whom lived on the rowdy floor said the only way to avoid the players was to ignore them.
“Basically it’s just an everyday kind of thing,” a resident said. “They’d be screaming in the hallways a lot. We ignore it most of the time.”
“We don’t ever open the door,” another resident said. “It’s no use to encourage that behavior because it’ll just give them more attention.”
However, in the police report describing Trivino’s arrest, the RA that Trivino allegedly came after said she had no choice but to open the door. According to the police report, the victim said she had to open the door because she was an RA.
According to other RAs at BU, however, the rule does not exist.
An RA in another building at BU, who asked to remain anonymous because she was unsure if she was allowed to comment on the matter, said she never heard of a rule requiring her to always open her door if someone knocked.
Another RA, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was shocked when she read – in the original DFP article published on Dec. 13 – the victim said she had to open the door all three times Trivino came calling. The RA interviewed had never heard of a rule requiring her to open her door. The RA said that in training, RAs are taught their safety comes first and if they are threatened, they should do whatever possible to protect themselves.
The DFP made multiple attempts to reach David Zamojski, BU’s director of Residence Life, for comment on the matter. Zamojski’s office, however, said he would call back a different day until, three days after the first attempt to reach Zamojski, his office said he was out for the weekend.
Attempts to reach others in housing were denied, as all others contacted deferred comment to Zamojski. Zamojski also did not respond to an email from The DFP seeking comment.
Former RA Caitlin Cox, a BU Class of 2010 graduate, said she understood why the victim would originally open the door for Trivino even if there were no rule requiring her to do so.
“The bottom line is that as an RA, your job is to help the students you are in charge of,” Cox said. “Not only is it your job, people become RAs because they want to help. So if there was someone banging on the door in the middle of the night, you jump to action because that is what you are trained to do and that is what you are ready to do.”
The DFP also spoke with BU spokesman Colin Riley, who denied commenting on the RA policy and said, BU officials would not comment while the police investigation continues.
In spite of the RA’s efforts to stop the rambunctious behavior, one resident said the hockey players’ habits created an uneasy living environment and left residents wondering how to prevent a similar assault from happening to them.
“We don’t open the door, but I mean if we did I can only imagine. . .what if that [attack] happened to one of us?” one resident said. “They’re big guys, we can’t fight back.”
Kevin Dillon, Meredith Perri and Annie Ropeik contributed to the reporting of this article.
Let’s let it go. This is not a story
This article raises a bunch of questions. Did the RA ever write them up for being loud? Did anyone ever inform the coaches? If they were really being that loud and abnoxious it seems like the RA might be at fault for letting them get away with it. Don’t you get kicked out of housing after a certain number of violations? If this was happening all the time and she actually wrote them up for it, I can’t imagine the school wouldn’t have taken action. I’m also left wondering who the players were. I’d hope upperclassmen are more mature than this, but didn’t Trevino live with upperclassmen? This doesn’t look good for anyone. The players for acting like that, the RA if she didn’t do anything to stop it, and the school if she did report them and the school didn’t follow up.
This seems to be more opinion then fact as nobody wants to be specific or be identified. Who are these people that made these claims and were they reported to the housing office? An RA’s responsibility is to write up and report these incidents. Without names, how do we know these are hockey players? Don’t you think that this type of behavior goes on with the entire student body? If the Trivino incident had not occurred this story would never have been reported.
Obviously there is more to this story then we were originally led to believe. Kudos to the DFP for trying to get the whole story out. Too bad BU officials won’t talk on record. I don’t think this story is just opinions.
Who cares? This is the Boston Hockey Blog not the BU hockey social life blog, let’s get back to hockey please.
So why haven’t the other hockey players been booted from the team for taking part in the mayhem?
ya, let’s just let it go. no big deal at all that multiple hockey players are acting like fools on a daily basis…nothing to see here! just drop the puck!!!
It is interesting however that RA’s don’t have to open their doors. That seemed pretty strange in the initial report of the story. Especially opening it multiple times. And there are peepholes in the door, so it’s not as if she thought it was someone else.
For people who are saying to let this go, what planet are you on? This is a very serious matter and plays a big role in the hockey team. If the team’s hockey players are acting like fools and harassing people in dorms, what does it say about them? Maybe a good reason why our team always seems undisciplined on the ice. If they think they can get away with this stuff off the ice, imagine what they think they can get away with when it comes to practicing hard and actually working together.
What’s with all this blaming the victim?
PATHETIC!
I think this goes to the overall attitude of the BU hockey team. Every time I go to a BU hockey game, I am reminded of what poor sportsmanship Jack Powers inspires.
Jack Powers? How many hockey games have you been to guy? None?