Dr. Kevin Rome Sr., the president of Fisk University in Nashville, has been placed on leave after a man filed a restraining order against him. In the restraining order, the alleged victim says he met Rome (who he knew as “Rob”) on Grindr, and Rome drugged him with GHB and threatened him.
News4 Nashville reports: “Fisk University said in a statement that officials learned of the allegations unrelated to the school on Monday. The university said it could not comment on the specifics of the incident. Provost Dr. Vann Newkirk will assume duties of the president effective immediately, according to a statement from the school. … Rome's Attorney Jay Steed called the accusations against his client ‘false' and said he ‘categorically denies the allegations.' Steed added Rome ‘plans to fight the case in court and clear his good name.'”
According to the restraining order, the alleged victim said he is “in fear for [his] safety. He said he met “Rob” on Grindr in May 2020 and they spent the night together. A week later, he said “Rob” showed up at his house, “somehow got past security” and dosed him with GHB, then invited other men over to have sex in his bed. Those people then stole his possessions, according to the alleged victim's restraining order.
One of those men confronted him in early August with a message from “Rob” saying he should “stay away from his people” and threatened to kill him if he continued to date black men. According to the restraining order, the man told the alleged victim that he and “Rob” had broken into the alleged victim's apartment and were responsible for homophobic graffiti and a sewage flooding incident that had occurred since the May meeting.
The alleged victim said in the restraining order said that the entire incident stems from the fact that the man he was dating at the time was “Rob's” ex.
Nashville Scoop reports: “Dr. Kevin D. Rome, Sr. became 16th President of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee on July 1st, 2017. He is married to Stefanie Rome and they have two children. Dr. Rome stated ‘I'm just as shocked as you, I have no idea who this person is and I can't even respond to it because I don't even know who they are' via telephone on August 10th. The petitioner has previously accused a man of sexually assaulting him on three separate occasions at a Brentwood YMCA facility by groping his genitals in the men's locker room. These incidents occurred between 2015 and 2016. The settlement details of that case were not made public, however, the YMCA removed the accused person from their membership.”
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