If you live on campus and have a roommate/suite-mate or two, your worst fear is they are untidy, steal your belongings, or will have too many friends over during the wee hours of the night. But, Hartford student, Chennel Rowe, endured much worse.

Her former roommate, Brianna Brochu, contaminated her belongings with bodily fluids, put her toothbrush where “the sun doesn’t shine,” spit on/in her belongings, called her racially charged names, such as “Jamaican Barbie,” and posted her on social media, making fun of her hair extensions.

As a consequence, Brochu has been charged with hate crimes, criminal mischief and breach of peace.

What’s painted in clear bold letters surrounding this entire case is that Rowe is black and Brochu is white, so there is without a doubt this was indeed a hate crime. I'm stepping on my soap box for a second, but I am a young black woman as well.

I cannot speak on the behalf of all young black women in college who have roommates, but statistically speaking, unless you attend an HBCU or a university where it is extremely diverse, your campus population will be predominately white.

During my freshman year in college, my fear was not getting a white roommate, rather, it was getting a white roommate whom was prejudice towards black people.

It is my innate paranoia of being an African American that I am always to be the subject of such prejudice, but to live amongst it? The things Brochu did to Rowe were simply the tip of the iceberg.

Considering hate crimes in our nation’s past and present, these situations have often led to physical brutality and sometimes even death of the victims.

Although Brochu is facing criminal charges, authorities should call into question if she should even be permitted to live on any college campus again, (if she is even able to attend another college after this situation) due to the fact that she is a public menace.

Another concerning issue surrounding this case is the lack of involvement from the university itself to gain control over the investigation. Rowe, in the beginning of the semester when she was randomly placed with Brochu, decided to remove herself from the situation by moving out of the dorm to avoid further conflict.

Brochu was already charged before Rowe posted her grievances on Facebook live, but she began to get frustrated because it was taking so long for Brochu to get punished.

Here’s the best part.

When Ms. Rowe expressed this concern to the school’s authorities, she was told that if she spoke out about the situation, she could be removed from her campus residence.

So not only do we have a young black woman who’s been practically terrorized in the comfort of her own dwelling, but when she wants justice for her victimhood, she is threatened for attempting to seek her own justice.

It is no secret that if Rowe was white and Brochu were black, this entire investigation would have received more urgency and call to action, but this is at the cost of someone simply wanting to get educated and get a degree.

They’ve spent all this money to attend this school with the promise of a beautiful culture, comfort and a tight knit community, only to be neglected when it matters the most.

This clearly isn’t the first incident to happen on a college campus where the school’s authorities, rules and regulations are called into question, but how do universities expect to keep a promising reputation when they allow situations such as Ms. Romwe’s to spiral out of control?

If we are debating as to if the roles were reversed, and Ms. Romwe was indeed white and Brochu black, then what does this say of the authorities, professors, etc. working at these universities? Let alone the person hiring them?