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September 11, 2007

URI dances put on hold following stabbing

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- The University of Rhode Island has put student dances on hold until officials can review their safety procedures and determine what else can be done to make sure the events are safe.

The move follows a stabbing last week at dance sponsored by the Cape Verdean Students Association, one of many student groups that books dances in the Memorial Union building on URI’s Kingston campus.

Bruce Hamilton, director of Memorial Union and the center for student leadership development, said he is reviewing safety procedures at more than half a dozen colleges and universities to see if there is anything URI can change or add to its procedures.

Hamilton said he will meet this week with his staff, the student affairs staff and URI’s security staff and then will try to meet next week with the Student Senate and other student leadership groups to discuss possible changes.

He was not sure how long the “brief moratorium,” as he called it, will last but guessed it would be about two weeks.

“This was an unfortunate incident that we take very seriously,” he said. “We’re confident about the safety of the community but we always want to look at anything that could do to make it more secure.”

Police have not identified the student who was stabbed last week, saying only that he is a URI student who is 20 years old, lives on campus and is from Providence.

He was released from South County Hospital on Friday, the day after he was stabbed in the “abdomen area” according to URI police. No arrests have been made, police said.

-- Journal staff writer Randal Edgar

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 6:23 PM | Permalink

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