In a New Jersey courtroom ruling earlier today, former student Dharun Ravi, 20, was found guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation for setting up a webcam in his dorm room to spy on his former roommate, Tyler Clementi.
Ravi had set up a webcam in his dorm room in September 2010 and captured images of Clementi kissing another man; he then tweeted that information to friends and tried again to capture more images two days later. Three days later, Clementi, who had come out as gay shortly before coming to Rutgers, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Ravi’s lawyers argued that their client’s actions were not motivated by anti-gay or homophobic tendencies but rather were those of an immature “kid”. The defense also argued that the webcam was set up in order to keep an eye on the man Clementi was seen with as he was older and identified as “sketchy” by Ravi.
According to testimony, on September 19th, 2010 Clementi had asked Ravi to leave their room so he could have a guest. Ravi then posted on twitter “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.” Clementi had submitted a room-change request and talked to a Resident Assistant about what had happened. He also used his own lap-top to review Ravi’s twitter site a total of 38 times in the last two days leading to his suicide. Ravi was acquitted of some of the 15 charges, but found guilty of others and faces up to a 10 year sentence.
WEIGH IN
Was the verdict a fair outcome for Ravi? Do you see this as an egregious act of sexual bias, or a college prank that went too far? Were there other factors that could have contributed to Clementi’s suicide?
Guests:
Tina Susman, New York Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times
Hayley Gorenberg, Deputy legal director, Lambda Legal, a national organization whose mission is to advance the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender (LGBT) people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and policy work