editorial A month later, the search continues

Author: [no author name found]

More than a month after Nicholas Garza's '11 disappearance, the search for Garza himself, and the search for answers for the community, are still underway. Out of respect for Garza's family and friends, and out of concern for Garza himself, we as a community have avoided criticizing the College for its handling of the situation. Students and members of the community have questions, however, that are going unanswered. Why was the College so slow to mobilize after Garza went missing? Why have official updates been so few and far between? Why haven't administrators addressed students directly?

The College and the Middlebury Police Department (MPD) can understandably only share so much information with the community at large, and we are sensitive to and supportive of the fact that energy should, at this time, continue to be directed wholeheartedly to the ongoing investigation. We do not wish to engage in unproductive criticism - only to draw attention to a sense of anxiety and frustration on campus stemming from a lack of understanding about the situation.

Administrators were all too willing to accept a student's suggestion that Garza had left town after his alleged disappearance first came to their attention. Commons administrators were alerted to Garza's potential disappearance the morning after he was last seen, and searched his room on Feb. 6 - but did not alert Garza's family or the College residential community. Even though Garza disappeared over a semester break, during which the College was operating at a limited capacity, it would appear that administrators were all to willing to hope for the best. The College equated "confident" - as Dean of the College Tim Spears termed Garza in an interview with WCAX - with invincibility. Spears said in the same interview, "I think if it was the case of a woman going missing, I think the exchange may have been different."

This will sadly be a learning experience - whatever the outcome of the search - for the College. More immediately, though, students are eager to know what about what the College is doing to define protocol to ensure the continued safety of students, and yearn for updates on the status of the ongoing investigation. While the College continues to beseech the community to come forward with information, this information seems to disappear into the black hole of the investigation. Posters are plastered across town and campus alike, perhaps designed as much to give students a part in the investigation as anything else - but the information provided is static. Rumors on campus abound, fueling unproductive speculation about the circumstances of Garza's disappearance.

Though the ongoing nature of the investigation complicates and necessarily hinders fully transparent communication with the community, the College administration must reach out to the student body in a more meaningful way than has, at this point, been undertaken. Both Dean of the College Tim Spears and President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz have remarked on Garza's disappearance in public - but these remarks have been delivered in press conferences or at faculty meetings. Administrators owe students more than e-mails, and should provide an opportunity for students to ask questions and voice their concerns. There are no easy answers to these questions, but a face and a forum for discussion would, we believe, help sooth the nerves of a frazzled, frightened community.