Private Moment Made Public, Then a Fatal Jump
Private Moment Made Public, Then a Fatal Jump
By LISA W. FODERARO–New York Times
Correction Appended
It started with a Twitter message on Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”
That night, the authorities say, the Rutgers University student who sent the message used a camera in his dormitory room to stream the roommate’s intimate encounter live on the Internet.
And three days later, the roommate who had been surreptitiously broadcast — Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman and an accomplished violinist — jumped from the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River in an apparent suicide.
The Sept. 22 death, details of which the authorities disclosed on Wednesday, was the latest by a young American that followed the online posting of hurtful material. The news came on the same day that Rutgers kicked off a two-year, campuswide project to teach the importance of civility, with special attention to the use and abuse of new technology.
Those who knew Mr. Clementi — on the Rutgers campus in Piscataway, N.J., at his North Jersey high school and in a community orchestra — were anguished by the circumstances surrounding his death, describing him as an intensely devoted musician who was sweet and shy.
“It’s really awful, especially in New York and in the 21st century,” said Arkady Leytush, artistic director of the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra, where Mr. Clementi played since his freshman year in high school. “It’s so painful. He was very friendly and had very good potential.”
The Middlesex County prosecutor’s office said Mr. Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, N.J., and another classmate, Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton Junction, N.J., had each been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image” of Mr. Clementi. The most serious charges carry a maximum sentence of five years.
Mr. Ravi was charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy for trying a similar live feed on the Internet on Sept. 21, the day before the suicide. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, James O’Neill, said the investigation was continuing, but he declined to “speculate on additional charges.”
Steven Goldstein, chairman of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said Wednesday that he considered the death a hate crime. “We are sickened that anyone in our society, such as the students allegedly responsible for making the surreptitious video, might consider destroying others’ lives as a sport,” he said in a statement.
At the end of the inaugural event for the university’s “Project Civility” campaign on Wednesday, nearly 100 demonstrators gathered outside the student center, where the president spoke. They chanted, “Civility without safety — over our queer bodies!”
It is unclear what Mr. Clementi’s sexual orientation was; classmates say he mostly kept to himself. Danielle Birnbohm, a freshman who lived across the hall from him in Davidson Hall, said that when a counselor asked how many students had known Mr. Clementi, only 3 students out of 50 raised their hands.
But Mr. Clementi displayed a favorite quotation on his Facebook page, from the song “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”: “What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia.”
And his roommate’s Twitter message makes plain that Mr. Ravi believed that Mr. Clementi was gay.
A later message from Mr. Ravi appeared to make reference to the second attempt to broadcast Mr. Clementi. “Anyone with iChat,” he wrote on Sept. 21, “I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it’s happening again.”
Ms. Birnbohm said Mr. Ravi had said the initial broadcast was an accident — that he viewed the encounter after dialing his own computer from another room in the dorm. It was not immediately known how or when Mr. Clementi learned what his roommate had done. But Ms. Birnbohm said the episode quickly became the subject of gossip in the dormitory.
Mr. Clementi’s family issued a statement on Wednesday confirming the suicide and pledging cooperation with the criminal investigation. “Tyler was a fine young man, and a distinguished musician,” the statement read. “The family is heartbroken beyond words.”
The Star-Ledger of Newark reported that Mr. Clementi posted a note on his Facebook page the day of his death: “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.” Friends and strangers have turned the page into a memorial.
Witnesses told the police they saw a man jump off the bridge just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 22, said Paul J. Browne, the New York Police Department’s chief spokesman. Officers discovered a wallet there with Mr. Clementi’s identification, Mr. Browne said.
The police said Wednesday night that they had found the body of a young man in the Hudson north of the bridge and were trying to identify it.
Officials at Ridgewood High School, where Mr. Clementi graduated in June, last week alerted parents of current students that his family had reported him missing and encouraged students to take advantage of counseling at the school.
The timing of the news was almost uncanny, coinciding with the start of “Project Civility” at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey. Long in the planning, the campaign will involve panel discussions, lectures, workshops and other events to raise awareness about the importance of respect, compassion and courtesy in everyday interactions.
Events scheduled for this fall include a workshop for students and administrators on residential life on campus and a panel discussion titled “Uncivil Gadgets? Changing Technologies and Civil Behavior.”
Rutgers officials would not say whether the two suspects had been suspended. But in a statement late Wednesday, the university’s president, Richard L. McCormick, said, “If the charges are true, these actions gravely violate the university’s standards of decency and humanity.” At the kickoff event for the civility campaign, Mr. McCormick made an oblique reference to the case, saying, “It is more clear than ever that we need strongly to reassert our call for civility and responsibility for each other.”
Mr. Ravi was freed on $25,000 bail, and Ms. Wei was released on her own recognizance. The lawyer for Mr. Ravi, Steven D. Altman, declined to comment on the accusations. A phone message left at the offices of Ms. Wei’s lawyer was not returned.
Some students on the Busch campus in Piscataway seemed dazed by the turn of events, remembering their last glimpse of Mr. Clementi. Thomas Jung, 19, shared a music stand with Mr. Clementi in the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra.
On Wednesday afternoon, hours before Mr. Clementi’s death, the two rehearsed works by Berlioz and Beethoven. “He loved music,” Mr. Jung said. “He was very dedicated. I couldn’t tell if anything was wrong.”
Reporting was contributed by Al Baker, Barbara Gray, Nate Schweber and Tim Stelloh.
Correction: October 1, 2010
Because of an editing error, an article on Wednesday about a Rutgers student who committed suicide after video showing him in an intimate encounter was streamed on the Internet misidentified, in some editions, the hometown of Molly Wei, a student who was charged with invasion of privacy in the case. She is from Princeton Junction, N.J., not Plainsboro.
“Invasion of Privacy Law & Legal Definitions”, Invasion of privacy is the intrusion into the personal life of another, without just cause, which can give the person whose privacy has been invaded a right to bring a lawsuit for damages against the person or entity that intruded. It encompasses workplace monitoring, Internet privacy, data collection, and other means of disseminating private information. (www.USLEGAL.com)
Tyler Clementi a freshman in college, a student just like myself and others, and an accomplished musician committee suicide on September 22. He didn’t have any mental health record or previous suicide attempts, all he had was his love for another human being that was violated and exposed for the world to see when we wasn’t ready. Clementi roommate Dharun Ravi and another classmate Molly Wei used cameras to stream live videos of Mr. Clementi private relationship. The crimes committed were invasion of privacy and currently being looked over as a hate crime.
There’s a lot of this to be put into consideration about Dharun and Wei acts. Why is it that the person they selected was gay or was it the just opportunity to committee this act and it happen to be that he was gay? (Even though Mr. Ravi posted information questioning his roommates sexuality) Yet, how does one commit his/herself to commit such a crime to another human being?
I would apply the Social Learning Theory to my questions. We grow up learning ethical values that define how we see each other and to some degree respect one another. Nor can we say that people are born with criminal intentions to commit crimes on other. So where does it come from? I believe the acts that were committed was connected to society and how be learn different behaviors to cope with with people that are different from what they consider the norm.
May it be our society or our community (no a smaller scale) or even our values that our parent instilled in us, to some degree people who aren’t consider normal are rejected in this case homosexuals. They become second class citizens to those that reject them. With the lack of protection ,may it be in schools,college,work,government etc…, This is an open invitation to dehumanize and commit heinous acts.
Children learn from their parents whats proper in their eyes and as they get older they develop their own learning process which is effect by the community around them. Gay,Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender are the misunderstood minorities, an easy target for people to pick on and commit acts of crime too. Teenager grow up seeing how certain people are either accepted or rejected based on their affiliations with GLBT kids and this plays a huge impact on how they want to be view and fit in. In some cases it’s easier to fit in and discriminate than accept and move on.
Ty Cobb legislative counsel from the Human Right Campaign said on an interview with the National Public Radio that ,”…you know, it’s at every level of society… But, you know, the number of times just in a high school in the course of a day that a gay youth hears the word gay used as a stand-in for everything that’s wrong with the world that’s so gay, that’s so queer and that educators don’t challenge it and that their friends don’t challenge it and that parents don’t challenge it every time we let that happen, we build an environment for this kind of thing.”
We create an environment that believes its okay to invades ones privacy because they are different. Nothing is being said to prevent it or done to prevent such violations. Young kids will grow up to learn that treating GLBT citizens less than humans is okay. But why…How many more suicides, hate crime, gay bashing, and murders of GLBT Americans does it take to get protection and equality?
Tyler Clementi, a sweet 18 year old freshman, attending Rutgers University took his own life on September 22nd. He had no previous mental illness record, and everyone that knew him was truly fond of his being. He took his own life when witnesses saw him jump off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River, leaving behind only his wallet with identification at the ledge. Considered the death of a hate crime, two members of his student body are responsible for his decision to take his own life. Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, both the same age as Tyler, 18, are being held accountable for the invasion of privacy. It is unknown what Tyler’s sexual orientation actually was, but it is presumed that he was a homosexual. His roommate, Dharun, had used a camera in their dorm room to record a sexual encounter that Tyler had with another male and posted it via Twitter and Internet.
Ironically, the school campus held a campus-wide project to teach civility with special attention to the use and abuse of technology. Steven Goldstein, chairman of the Gay Rights Group, considers this “apparent suicide” the death of a hate crime. The day Tyler died, his Facebook status read, “jumping off GW bridge, sorry”. No action was taken. When asked by counselors, only 3 out of the 50 students knew who Tyler was, and students described him as a sweet,shy and devoted musician.
Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei were both charged with 2 counts of invasion of privacy which accounts for a maximum of 5 years in prison. Additionally, Dharun had an extra two counts because he posted a live feed of the sexual experience on the internet just one day before the suicide occurred. Ravi was cleared on $25,000 bail and Wei was released on her own recognizance.
There is a lot of information to take into consideration whether or not Dharun and Wei had true knowledge of the severity of the consequences that they are both now facing. As humans, we think it is simple morals to understand you don’t implicate such acts on an innocent human, but we do not live in a perfect world. In the world we live in today, hate crimes are preformed and action should be taken.
I would apply the Social Learning Theory created by Bandura to this crime. Within this theory, all human behavior, including criminal behavior is learned. People learn aggressive behavior in the same way they learn other behaviors. This aggressive behavior can be learned from things they see in the media/television, or can be acted out from role models or public figures. I believe this act was committed because homosexuality is still very new to society and in the process of being legalized all around. This is beyond the social norms, years ago, homosexuals were looked down upon and viewed as “freaks” of the world. Dharun and Molly learned these hatred behaviors to cope with the ever so new laws and morals of society.
Even though gays should be treated just the same as first class citizens, they are still viewed as second class citizens amongst many people. They become second class citizens to the ones that don’t accept their behaviors and “decision” to become gay. To the humans that think homosexuality is unacceptable and unethical, morally wrong, it is a gateway token to implement such hatred behaviors upon the ones that don’t fit in.
Children view what is acceptable and considered a “social norm” in society based upon their peers,family and role models. If their parent doesn’t agree with the new gay regulations and laws, they may sway that way as well. Peers may curse at the gays and say derogatory things to them, simply because they don’t agree with their existence or public display. As children grow, they see the similarities and differences between gays and straight people, and develop a personal opinion, but some views may never change. I believe this crime was committed because these two teenagers did not agree with Tyler’s sexuality, and found an easy way to embarrass and harass him. Unfortunately, this resulted in a tragic death, and now they must face the severe consequences.
I also believe Molly and Dharun committed this crime because of the learned behaviors on television and the media. Unfortunately, cyber bullying is one of the most common behaviors between teenagers, resulting in fatal acts. Their peers may have been making fun of Tyler for his sexual orientation, and these two decided to add more fuel to the fire. The violence and crime in the media has scarily risen in agression over the past few years. Technology is also becoming more advanced, making it easy for Dharun to post things over the internet resources because it’s so easily accesible. To make strides towards this type of prevention, we need to set limits on our technology and become more aware of the acts that are occuring all over the world.
Ellen DeGeneres had a segment of her show dedicated to Tyler Clementi, and she stressed over and over again that this is not the first time this act has been committed. Over the past year alone, 6 suicides have occurred because of cyber bullying and technology abuse due to homosexuality. Homosexuality needs to be put to rest, and we need to become more accepting. Justice needs to be served to Dharun and Molly, they need to be accountable of their own actions, and prevention needs to be stressed campus and nationwide.
On September 22, 2020 a freshman at Rutgers University committed suicide. Tyler Clementi, 18, jumped off of George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River after his roomate, Dharun Ravi, and classmate, Molly Wei streamed live footage of what was supposed to be a private moment. Ravi and Wei have both been charged with invasion of privacy, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years. Dharun Ravi was charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy due to a similar stream he he did just a day before Clementi took his own life.
Micheal Gottfredson and Travis Hirsch developed the General Theory of Crime and defines crime as “acts of force or fraud undertaken in pursuit of self interest”. Their theory is based off of teh ideal that people who committ criminal acts lack self-control and that crime provides easy and immediate gratification of desires, few or meager long-term benefits, and that criminal acts are exciting, risky, or thrilling.
I believe that RAvi and Wei committed this horrible crime because they found it amusing. I also believe that Ravi found enjoyment in exposing his roommate as homosexual and humiliating him as made clear when he tweeted, ” Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay”
Tyler Clementi, a student from Rutgers University, committed suicide after jumping from the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River this past month. The death was in reaction to his roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, streaming a live webcam of Clementi becoming intimate with another male student. Ravi has been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy of Clementi, and two separate counts of invasion of privacy for a similar video that he posted online. The freshman was an accomplished musician and “kept to himself”, says classmates.
Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of mental development to describe the levels of cognitive development. I believe Dharun Ravi is stuck in the first part of the conventional level, according to Kohlberg’s theories. At this stage, children base their behavior off of what their peers think is “cool”, or what will lead them to acceptance of others. Ravi ignored the moral principle of privacy and respect, and instead put the video online to embarrass Clementi. Ravi did this to gain respect from his peers. In the second part of the conventional level, adolescents are expected to grow out of this phase and base behavior off of what is socially correct or what would make them a good citizen. Obviously, Dharun Ravi had not entered this stage of his cognitive development.
As stated above, I believe that Dharun Ravi committed this hate crime because he was looking for social acceptance. He knew that Clementi would be an easy target, and therefore chose him. Ravi clearly has insecurities that he was looking to cover up by embarrassing another student.
Suicide is the act of taking one’s life because that person feels their life is no longer worth living. It is an extremely upsetting experience for those left behind; especially when the person who commits the suicide is so young and had a bright future ahead of them. In this article Tyler Clementi took his life because of hate crimes that were targeted at him. His roommate, Dharun Ravi, had invaded Clementi’s privacy and broadcast a private moment between Clementi and another male. Ravi attempted to broadcast a second video of Clementi as well. Clementi decided to take his life because of these events and jumped from the George Washington Bridge.
The suicide in this article took place because of the hatred those around him felt toward Clementi’s sexual preferences. I believe these hate crimes happened not because Ravi was born hating gays but because he was taught to hate gays. There was probably an influential person in his life while growing up that had strong opinions against gay or lesbian relationships. He could have learned these behaviors from family, friends, teachers, etc. This phenomenon is known as the social learning theory. According to this theory, children learn certain behaviors or ways of thinking from a role model who they later imitate by acting or thinking the same way. If children are surrounded by good role models growing up then they will in turn be good people. If they are surrounded by negative role models they could be taught to go against the norms of society as Ravi did.
Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, committed suicide after have tapes released of him having sexual encounters with another male. Two other students recorded and posted this to the internet so that thousands of people could watch. So distraught, Clementi posted on his Facebook, “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry” and later committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. The two students, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, were charged with invasion to privacy for their actions, and streaming video to the internet live. These two students should also be pressed, and are being pressured, to be charged with hate crimes as it seems that Clementi was targeted due to his sexual orientation. This is such an awful thing to happen and in my mind there are a few explanations for it.
Its tough to just pinpoint on one theory that can explain the crimes that Ravi and Wei committed so I will elaborate on two. The first being Social Learning Theory. This theory suggests that people learn their behaviors in the same way they learn other behaviors, through socialization with others. Especially in college when there aren’t parents to regulate their students, kids are more free and are vulnerable to more ideas especially radical ones. Gays, and others, are especially discriminated by many in any school setting but can often get worse at college and I’m sure this played a role in why Clementi was targeted. To tie in along with this theory we must look at the media, as shows, the internet, and much much more offer people perspectives and opinions for everyone. This could have also easily been a cause of the “hate” for Clementi and why he was such a targeted student for these filthy students to invade his privacy the way they did. They deserve the worse sentence they can get.
On September 22, 2010, a young, talented man took his own life as a result of judgment from others. Tyler Clementi, an accomplished musician, just starting out his life as a freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, was a typical shy, quiet, young adult. He was a victim of bullying for being who he is. After a Twitter tweet was published by his roommate, accusing Tyler of engaging in acts with another male, his actions became a laughing stock for some of the other students. Not only did his roommate invade Tyler’s privacy once by turning on his webcam when Tyler was in the room with another man, but he tweeted again soon after that he was going to watch through his webcam what Tyler was doing while he was gone. Three days after the first tweet, Tyler jumped off the George Washington Bridge. Not many people knew him, but this story left many people asking “how dare some people do this?”
This truly makes me sick. Today, ironically, is wear purple day. By wearing purple, many people support the LGBT’s and try to rid them of the pain and bullying that they have to be put through. I wore purple today. I believe in equality for all. Apparently, Tyler’s roommate wasn’t that open minded. In my eyes, he is as guilty of murder as any man is who has ever killed another human with his own hands. Instead, he did it with words. Dharun Ravi, who was Tyler’s roommate, is truly a criminal. His actions reflect the behavioral explanations for crime, mostly the social learning theory, but also, touch up on the violence and crime in the media. One would think that a freshman in college, being 18 years old, can realize that people are different. Different colors, different religions, different sexual orientations. However, there are so many people in our society that are close minded to the pain that one has to go through every day just to be different. I wonder if Mr. Ravi’s parents were his role models that made him think its okay to judge one, or its okay to tell the rest of the world one’s insecurities. Most people think that words aren’t violent. But in today’s day and age, when kids are committing suicide at 13 and 14 because of bullying, words have the power of a gun. Mr. Ravi, like many other people, engages himself in the social media scene. These days it seems cool for everyone to post every little detail of their lives, offensive or not. There are even politicians that are supposed to govern us that are ignorant to the rights that are given to one since birth. Mr. Ravi might have been influenced by what is heard in the media; from actors refusing to work with gay men, to politicians exclaiming that gay marriage is a sin, it is all wrong. Trying to give Mr. Ravi the benefit of the doubt by saying “Oh he did not mean it” or “oh they are just tweets” means absolutely nothing. If he was brought up in an environment where it was okay to humiliate one, his social learning shaped him, but still, how can one be so ignorant?
I believe that Mr. Ravi exposed his roommate to have him be the laughing stock. Why wouldn’t you just let it go? Does it make you feel better that everyone now knows that your roommate is gay? I’m sure he didn’t know that Tyler would commit suicide, but there has to be a level of respect and understanding amongst the people in our society for one another. Mr. Ravi probably thought it was the cool and funny thing to do, to have his roommate watched making out with another male and to expose him. But it still baffles me. What purpose did it serve for him? Our society, mostly, just like Mr. Ravi, is still very ignorant. I’m sure he learned his behavior through his lifetime and just tried to be “cool” to the people who are against the gay movement. In order for problems such as this to be fixed, our society, as a whole, has to realize the impact that harshness can have on our peers. If we are made equal, we should lead our lives like we are equal.
Tyler Clementi, an 18 year old freshman at Rutgers University, jumped from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010 in an apparent suicide. This, after his roommate Dharun Ravi, also 18, used a webcam in their dorm room to broadcast on the internet Clementi’s intimate encounter with another man. Ravi and a female student named Molly Wei who was also involved, are both charged with 2 counts of invasion of privacy for broadcasting the live feed. Ravi is also charged with 2 other counts of invasion of privacy for attempting to broadcast another live feed the day before Clementi’s suicide.
Kohlberg’s stage theory can be used to explain the criminal act in this case. It describes moral development as consisting of 3 levels of cognitive development. These stages are the Preconventional level, the conventional level and the postconventional level. In the preconventional level children base their moral jugements on their desire to avoid punishment. For the conventional level, moral judgment takes into account approval or disapproval and what other people think of them. Later in the conventional level, morals such as being a “good citizen” are taken into account. In the Postconventional level the person judges right and wrong not according to consequences but according to ethical principles.
Using the stage theory to understand this crime, I believe that both Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei are still in the early stage of the conventional level. This would mean their actions are a result of their desire for attention from their peers, which could very likely be the case. Broadcasting the video on the internet was going to get them attention and approval from many of their peers so as a result they may not have consider how ethical or moral their decisions were.
This tragic story of Tyler Clementi, who was an 18 year old who attended Rutgers University committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge on September 22. The suicide was a cause from his room mate,Dharun Ravi, who used his own webcam on his laptop to broadcast live Clementi’s encounter with another man. Another student, Molly Wei was also involved in the video footage.Both are also being charged with 2 counts of invasion of privacy for virally showing the live feed to everyone on the internet.
One of the theories discussed in chapters 5-7 that i think is relevant to this crime theory would be the Social learning Theory. The social learning theory is defined as all human behavior, including criminal behavior is learned. Unfortunately in society, people who are homosexual are viewed just like Carly said above as second class citizen or outcasts. We almost are shunned off from them and are disown them from society. Whether we are homosexual or not we must accept them in society.
Perhaps these two students learned their behavior from what their parents taught them or what they see or view as accepted in society. Children view what is acceptable and considered a “social norm” in society based upon their peers,family and role models. If their parent doesn’t agree with the new gay regulations and laws, they may sway that way as well.
I feel that Wei and Ravi committed this crime not only for popularity, but also because of what they were taught in society. Since i live in New Jersey and have many friends who attend Rutgers, this is a very drastic issue for the state and for my friends who go to that school. I feel awful for what these two students did to Clementi. No matter what the person’s sexual preference is, we need to accept people for who they are. This tragedy could have and should have been prevented.
Tyler Clementi, age 18, committed suicide on September 22, 2010 by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge and landed into the Hudson River. Mr. Clementi of Ridgewood, was a student at Rutgers University. He was gifted young man who had a talent for music. He took his life after discovering that his roommate and another girl down the hall had been broadcasting his sexual encounters with another man through the Internet. His roommate, Dharun Ravi claims that his first recording of his roommates encounters were accidental, but some find this hard to believe, since Mr. Ravi had been updating his twitter page about his roommate being a homosexual for some time.
Molly Wei, age 18, being held accountable for taking part in putting Mr. Clemnti’s sexual encounters on the internet. Molly and Dharun sat in the same room together and broadcasted Mr. Clementi’s personal business and helped spread it to other students.
I believe that this crime would coincide with the Social Learning Theory. The two suspects in their minds did not believe making fun of somebody online is a crime, because they have learned that it is acceptable behavior. Kids make fun of each other all the time and many of them are subjected to bulling. Also, there have been plenty of movies based on a college campus where one roommate records the other having sex and broadcasts it. Take American Pie for example. The movie was social accepted as something that others find funny.
I think that the two students committed the crime out of an act of attention. They clearly had nothing better to do with their time, so they took it upon themselves to make someone else’s business their own as well as whoever else wanted to see it on the internet. I believe that Mr. Ravi didn’t like that his roommate was a homosexual, and I bet that he liked to belittle him and make him feel inferior. He probably knew that Mr. Clementi was in the closet and was disgusted with Tyler’s casual encounters with other male students, so he figured he’d broadcast his encounters and out him to everyone on campus. I believe that Molly isn’t innocent, but she is an accomplice to Mr. Ravi. She watched what he was doing and knew that it was wrong, She didn’t make any attempts to stop him and she probably later found the encounters to be humorous as well. They both used social media to let others know that they had this footage and that was how she became involved in the contribution to Tyler Clementi’s suicide.