A dispute between two resident Webster University students Oct. 17 turned violent, leading to felony assault charges for the suspect and requiring the victim to be transported to St. Mary's Hospital.
Robert Macklin, a junior management major, allegedly struck his roommate David Cavanaugh, a senior information management major, with a skillet. Cavanaugh sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Webster Groves Police Department.
Public Safety officers responded to a call made from the emergency call box in front of Emerson Library around 1:20 a.m. The individual who placed the call notified the dispatcher that there was a fight between students and that the police should be notified, said Tracy Winka, a Public Safety Manager.
The incident occurred at building 6 of the Webster Village Apartments on the first day of fall break. Stephen Spear, a WGPD public information officer, said Macklin was arrested and charged with second-degree assault. Macklin was released later that same day pending the application of a warrant. The St. Louis County prosecutor's office was not able to comment on the charges against Macklin.
Spear also said that alcohol was found at the scene but could not confirm whether Macklin or Cavanaugh had been drinking. The WU Public Safety report about the incident did not mention the presence of alcohol.
While students often get into verbal arguments at WU, a fight involving physical violence is uncommon, said John Buck, an associate dean of students. Public Safety personnel also rarely get calls about fights.
"We haven't had a fight like this in a long time," Winka said.
WU's 2009 crime statistics shows only four cases of aggravated assault on campus since 2006. None of those cases, however, led to arrests being made by the police.
Macklin is suspended from WU pending the outcome of an Oct. 30 judicial board hearing, according to Colette Cummings, an associate dean of students.
The judicial board will include representation from faculty, staff and students. According to Buck, a judicial board hearing is an open discussion about what happened and is supposed to hold students accountable for their actions. While expulsion is the harshest punishment the judicial board can approve in a matter like this, the outcome will remain unknown until the hearing.
"The reality is every judicial board meeting I've been involved in has been different," Buck said. "There are a lot of different outcomes that could come from the meeting."