Dr. Kevin Rome Sr. brought a fresh energy when he stepped on the campus of Fisk University back in 2017. His presence there shined a positive light and brought attention to the school around Nashville and nationally. Things were going great, until recently, when Rome had a restraining order placed on him and that positive light dimmed.
In the restraining order, Rome Sr. is being accused of harassing a man that he reportedly met on Grindr, a LGTBQ+ social networking and dating app, that he later spent the night with. The man also accuses Rome Sr., or “Rob”, as he is identified from the app per the unidentified man, of drugging him, threatening him, breaking in his apartment and doing some damage there along with threatening him to “stay away from his people”.
The story originally broke on a local website known as Scoop Nashville and now has become a national story. Rome Sr. was placed on administrative leave as of August 11th as a result. It is being framed that “Rob” was harassing a man that is the boyfriend of “Rob’s” ex-lover.
The optics of this story look very bad for Rome Sr. The 54 year is married with two children.
In his rebuttal, Rome Sr. claims to not know anything of what this mystery man speaks of. He had this to say to Scoop Nashville in a phone call, “I’m just 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.”
Rome Sr. has lawyered up, being represented by attorney Jay Steed, and he intends to fight what he claims is an attempt to damage his good name.
At this point, this whole situation seemed to come out of left field and has many in the community concerned of the potential outcome of this scandal. On one hand, the victim could get the justice they potentially deserve and at the same time, destroy Rome Sr.’s reputation as well as harm that of Fisk. On the other hand, Rome Sr. could be innocent and the alleged victim could potentially be sued. There is always the view that there could be some truth and fiction mixed up in this situation.
If Rome Sr. is proven guilty of the things that he is accused of, it would be impossible for him to continue as his role as president of the university. Unfortunately this will remain a blemish on the long history of the HBCU.
A lot is on the line for Rome Sr., Fisk University and the alleged victim, so it will be interesting to see how this one develops. As it stands now, there are plenty of Fisk alums and others around Nashville that are stunned by this recent story that seemed to come out of nowhere for most.
