Campus Safety and Prevention Services

Chris Bahnan stands in front of the Henry F. Hall Building where he was assaulted weeks prior. Photo Alice Martin

Maria Cholakova,
Local Journalism Initiative

Activists are calling on the university to address the assault of Christopher Bahnan

Over 56 days have passed since Christopher Bahnan was assaulted in the Henry F. Hall Building. 

On Dec. 17, after he finished a final exam, a man aggressively bumped into Bahnan as he was about to enter the Hall building. The aggressor challenged him to a fight while using racist and homophobic insults. Bahnan gave him the middle finger. 

Before Bahnan was able to enter the Hall building, the man attacked Bahnan, pushing him into the building’s vestibule. The man proceeded to punch Bahnan in the face and tried to rip his keffiyeh off his body. The suspect had to be pulled off of Bahnan by nearby student witnesses. 

Concordia’s Campus Safety and Prevention Services (CSPS) allegedly went to talk to Bahnan five minutes after the incident had occurred.

“I was surrounded by a number of security agents who all began pulling out little notebooks and asked me a variety of invasive questions while I was trying to deal with the assault that I was just subjected to,” Bahnan said. “Writing in their little notebooks, [CSPS] claimed that I’d been in a fight, which I denied and tried to correct them saying this wasn’t a fight, I was assaulted.”

After 45 minutes, the SPVM arrived on the scene and Bahnan submitted an incident report with both the Montreal police and CSPS. Following the assault, Bahnan went straight to the emergency room.

“I saw an emergency room doctor who prescribed me some antibiotics and gave me a CT scan,” Bahnan said. “When we got the results from the CT scan, [the doctor] said it was a very good thing that we did this because [I] have a fractured sinus wall and I might need surgery.” 

Bahnan is still waiting to hear if he needs surgery from a specialist at that hospital. He hasn’t received any updates from the SPVM since the incident. 

According to Bahnan, CSPS’s actions after the incident were not up to par. 
Director of CSPS Darren Dumoulin called Bahnan after the incident to express his sympathy and condolences regarding the attack. 

“What he failed to do was to inform me of any meaningful resources that would be available to me,” Bahnan said.

Bahnan alleged that Dumoulin refused to issue a statement or warn students about the assault.

“[Dumoulin] mentioned [to me] that CSPS is always there for their students when they are in need,” Bahnan said, “which I immediately rebuked and said, ‘Well, clearly not, because I was assaulted and CSPS did nothing to help me.’” 

According to Concordia spokesperson Julie Fortier, “It is inaccurate to say that Darren Dumoulin was dismissive when in fact he called the student the next day to check in on them and see if they needed anything. He also referred them to Health Services and told them to call him back if accessing care proved difficult. The student did not call him back.” 

At the time of publication, the university has yet to release a statement on the incident. Bahnan said he thinks that the university’s inaction is far from surprising.

“It’s a long-standing tradition of Concordia to maintain a passive voice and refuse to take any responsibility for the lack of security and safety that they provide for their students,” Bahnan said. “It’s very clear that it’s a disproportionate amount of support that gets given to certain students over other students, and I unfortunately happen to land in the latter rather than the former.”

Vanessa Massot, Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) academic and advocacy coordinator, agreed with Bahnan’s sentiment.

“We just want students to be able to be on campus and have a right to academia,” Massot said. “[Concordia] continues to ignore the rise in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, and when it happens so blatantly on their campus, their failure to acknowledge it really just shows that their priority is not the safety or the well-being of the students.”

On Jan. 6, the CSU released a statement regarding the incident. In it, they condemned the “racially and sexually motivated attack” and accused the administration of ignoring Bahnan’s request for the university to publicly acknowledge his incident.

According to Fortier, the university cannot comment on whether or not the assault was a “hate crime” because the police investigation has not yet concluded its findings. 

When asked in an email why the university has yet to release a statement on the attack, Fortier did not provide an answer. 

This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 9, published February 11, 2025.