GREELEY, Colo.-
A former University of Northern Colorado student who said she was banned from the campus because she suffers from anorexia has criticized the school for posting her name and others online with links to another Web page that refers to the Virginia Tech shootings.
In a campuswide letter Wednesday, university President Kay Norton disputed the reasons for the student being banned. “I assure you that we do not issue persona non grata orders because of someone’s medical condition,” she wrote, adding that officials would not discuss individual cases.
The list includes 24 people, 14 of them with photos, barred from the campus in the past academic year for offenses ranging violations of the student code to felonies and offenses such as driving under the influence or trespassing.
Brittany Bethel, 21, said she was banned from campus as a danger to herself after she went into cardiac arrest in the campus recreation center. Her photo is posted above that of a former UNC punter charged with attempted first-degree murder and second-degree assault in the stabbing of a teammate.
“I was extremely upset—beyond upset—when I found out,” Bethel told the Rocky Mountain News in Wednesday’s editions.
In a letter posted on a Web page linked to the names, Norton wrote that people whose behavior was “not appropriate” for campus have long been issued “persona non grata” or no-trespass orders.
“A person who receives a PNG order isn’t necessarily dangerous, but he or she is unwelcome on our campus,” the letter said.
Police use the information to monitor campus, but Norton said officials decided to share the information more broadly in light of what happened at Virginia Tech. The information previously was available at the campus police department.
Bethel said she was hurt to find her photo posted.
“It is associated with the shooting at Virginia Tech, so it’s being implied that the people on it are somehow a danger to someone else and I am in no way a threat to anyone else,” she told KUSA-TV in Denver.
“It is like I am being labeled a criminal,” she said. “It is so hurtful to be labeled when you are struggling with something like this.”
She did not return a phone message left by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Campus spokesman Nate Haas said the school’s primary concern in a case of illness is getting the person the help they need. “Where the PNG comes in is, we hold people accountable for their behavior,” he said.
Haas said officials would update the new policy as needed but said nothing specific was planned. “It’s just something we’ll constantly review as we do with all policies on campus,” he said.
