After two days of wide speculation and rumors about a missing and allegedly armed Washington College student, local police and college officials finally gave details to a story that closed the college indefinitely, possibly through the Thanksgiving holiday.
It turns out that the missing student, sophomore Jacob Marberger, may have been a victim of bullying on campus, said officials in a press conference held on campus at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The campus closed Monday after Marberger’s parents reported to college officials that their son, a respected speaker of the student senate, had gone home to Pennsylvania to retrieve a gun. He has not been seen since but Chestertown Police Chief Adrian Baker believes Marberger is still in Pennsylvania.
In the video below Washington College President Sheila Bair insists Marberger was never a threat to anyone and explains her decision to close the college until further notice.
Still only classified as a missing person, Baker issued a warrant for Marbeger’s arrest, charging him with having a dangerous weapon on school property, possession of a firearm by a minor, and possession of a handgun on his person. Marberger is 19 and the charges are all misdemeanors.
The gun was an unloaded antique .22 rifle revolver, Baker said.
Back on Oct. 7 Marberger was subject to a prank where a bucket of water was placed over the door of his room in a manner to make it douse him when the door swung open.
“He felt very hurt by that,” said the college’s director of public safety, Jerry Roderick at Tuesday’s press conference. “He thought people were [trying] to ridicule him in some way.”
The bullying may have been ongoing.
“Speaking with Jacob, he did feel persecuted by several students on campus,” Roderick said.
Roderick insisted there was never any report of Marberger threatening or retaliating against anyone, nor did any student ever feel threatened.
“Investigators never once found any actions with the weapon that were overt acts of violence or threats,” Roderick said. He said Marberger simply displayed the gun as a kind of showpiece.
Washington College President Sheila Bair, standing with a cadre of law enforcement officials, echoed Roderick that Marberger never threatened anyone.
“I would like to emphasize…that the gun was unloaded, he was not pointing at anybody, he wasn’t threatening anybody [and] it sounds like he was bragging about it as an antique,” Bair said.
It is against school policy to have a gun on campus and it wasn’t reported to college officials until Oct. 23, two weeks after Marberger displayed it.
A search of his room in Cecil Hall revealed no weapon but the investigation remained opened but inactive because reports had been vague, Roderick said.
Roderick said more credible information came to the public safety office on Oct. 27 and by Oct. 29 they were able to recover the antique gun from an off-campus residence, at which time Marberger was placed on temporary suspension and forced to undergo a psychological evaluation.
“This is when we took immediate steps to look at the safety of our campus, the safety of our students and the safety of Mr. Marberger,” Roderick said. “A decision was made that Mr. Marberger had to separate from the campus at the time to allow public safety to continue its investigation and to have Mr. Marberger evaluated professionally.” Roderick said it was needed to determine if Marberger could return to campus.
Marberger returned to campus on Nov. 9 after he had passed his evaluation, Bair said.
Bair said that Marberger still faced possible suspension or expulsion by the college’s honor board after his return and that that process had not yet played out.
On Sunday, Nov. 15 Marberger participated in a local Rail Trail cleanup in Chestertown with other students and local residents and later that evening was asked by a fellow member of student government to resign. Marberger complied.
Marberger returned to his Pennsylvania home in the early morning hours of Nov. 16 where he allegedly retrieved the gun.
He remains missing and is described as 5’4 weighing 135 pounds. He has brown wavy hair.
Cynthia Stafford says
Are the students who bullied this young man also facing disciplinary action?
Lynn Donahue says
So very sad that students have reached college level and still engage in grade school bullying.
William Jones says
As an alumnus, I thank you for a well-written, detailed, and balanced synopsis of the Marberger case to date, including the college’s reaction to the situation. I came to the college as a military veteran in the 1980s and today reflect on how differently I believe former college president Douglass Cater might have managed this whole incident. As an older student, and member of the President’s Forum, I got to know Cater better than many students. While he could be cantankerous, I was always impressed by his calm and rational wisdom. He was blunt in opinion, though not a reactionary, qualities much needed in a college president. That said, it is incredulous to think of how this misguided kid has been maligned by the media when all closely concerned averr that Jacob was of no threat to himself and others, and there was nothing in his character to suggest otherwise, which is precisely why he was allowed to return to college. And now look at where we are — an initial and understandable decision for caution and safety allowed to run amok. Who was assigned to mentor and help Jacob upon his return to college? Anyone? Or was he left to flail the deep water alone? I feel the historic college has been irreparably damaged by the present leadership, which should now consider whether they are truly up to the task at hand, a form of robust leadership that is substantially different than the curriculum vitae submitted to run a modern academic institution. The question also arises as to what will happen to the frat “brothers” who preyed upon Jacob and sent him over a fragile edge (and who supplied him with alcohol?), will they get a “gentleman’s pass” (as many spoiled frat boys did in my day) or will they be dealt with honestly and judiciously as well?