• Rich Barlow

    Senior Writer

    Photo: Headshot of Rich Barlow, an older white man with dark grey hair and wearing a grey shirt and grey-blue blazer, smiles and poses in front of a dark grey backdrop.

    Rich Barlow is a senior writer at BU Today and Bostonia magazine. Perhaps the only native of Trenton, N.J., who will volunteer his birthplace without police interrogation, he graduated from Dartmouth College, spent 20 years as a small-town newspaper reporter, and is a former Boston Globe religion columnist, book reviewer, and occasional op-ed contributor. Profile

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There is 1 comment on New BU Police Chief Kelly Nee a 33-Year Boston Police Department Veteran

  1. While I applaud and commend BU for hiring Chief Nee, whose impressive record in counterterrorism and policing is apparent from this article, I am concerned at the false equivalency that is drawn by the Commissioner and this article between her gender and the fight to combat sexual assault on campus. There is no mention in this article that Chief Nee has been particularly involved in combatting sexual violence on campuses in Boston, and the appointment of a female police chief alone will do nothing to combat sexual assault and harassment on campus. After nearly a decade as a member of the BU community – as a student and as a staff member – I am ashamed that our administration has not taken more concrete steps to improve the capacity of the Title IX office and improve the services available to survivors. Emergency housing for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence should be available free of charge to students. Campus restraining orders should apply without exceptions, including at sporting events and graduation, no matter the “inconvenience” to perpetrators. Data should be anonymized and publicly available about the rates of sexual violence on campus. Academic advisors should be available and involved in offering services to both the accused and the accusers in any Title IX investigation process. And the availability of mental health services needs to be improved across the board. No one – especially not the survivors of sexual assault – should have to deal with the understaffing issues at BHS. Sexual assault is not a women’s issue, as this article suggests, and it certainly will not be “solved” by having a female chief of BUPD. Chief Nee will certainly receive my praise if and when she does attempt to address these issues. Until then, let us praise her for her actual accomplishments in counterterrorism and not falsely equate her gender with progress in the fight against rape culture at BU.

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