Back home, father copes with grief, blitz from media

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Ever since the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story Tuesday about his daughter's slaying and the controversy about how Eastern Michigan University handled it, Bob Dickinson has spent a lot of time on the phone with reporters from one national media outlet after another.

"They all ask the same questions," said Dickinson, 51, speaking on the phone with another reporter from the coffeehouse he owns in Hastings, Mich.

Before she transferred to the college last fall, Laura Dickinson worked part time at the shop, where her father can be found 90 hours a week.

He said that's a good thing because he gets to talk to people all day. Many ask how he's doing or say a word about Laura, or comment on the memorial there filled with her pictures.

"It's much harder for my wife," he said of Deb Dickinson, who does medical billing for an eye doctor. "She works in a cube and talks to maybe one or two people a day."

Bob Dickinson has been remarkably supportive of college officials, even after it was clear the officials didn't tell the truth about what happened to his daughter.

But after an independent investigation by a Detroit law firm found that the college violated the Jeanne Clery Act, a federal law that requires universities to disclose information about campus crime, his tone has changed.

He said it's clear Eastern Michigan didn't follow the law, and though he doesn't blame anyone in particular, it shouldn't have happened.

"They [university officials] seemed to make one mistake after another," he said. "It seemed like no matter what choice they made, it was the wrong one. Now they have a huge mess on their hands."

More than anything, he and his wife don't want such mistakes made in the future.

"Clearly, my daughter was raped and killed on campus," he said. "So it needs to be handled ... like the Clery Act. It looks like EMU didn't know the steps of the Clery Act, or didn't follow it.

"Deb and I want to make sure the word gets out: Here's the plan. Just do it, for goodness' sakes. Don't wait ... That's the goal, that change occurs. If it's just EMU, great. If even one other campus makes a change, that would be perfect."

His primary focus now is the safety of other people's children on college campuses.

"If you're sending a kid to a university, you trust they're going to be safe," he said. "We assumed she was safe, that EMU was a safe place. Well, there were some securities that were not in place that made it not a safe place for Laura."

Asked how he's able to maintain his composure, Dickinson said: "Absolute trust in God. That is it."

Because he's talked so much about the case, he's indifferent to the national media attention now. It doesn't hurt, he said, but it doesn't help.