(CLARIFICATION ATTACHED) — A sexual assault was reported at Springer Residential College at 12:36 a.m. Oct. 16.
This is the fourth sexual assault reported involving a student this semester.
The incident is described as “unwanted sexual contact with an acquaintance,” according to Public Safety and Emergency Management’s crime log.
The victim denied prosecution and the case is now closed.
Since prosecution of the assault was denied, a timely notice was not sent out to the campus community.
There is no time restriction on when a timely notice is sent out and ultimately it is up to the discretion of Public Safety.
Roy Dunaway, interim chief of Public Safety, said if he felt campus was unsafe, a timely notice would have been sent out.
For a separate incident Oct. 9, a timely notice was sent in a campuswide email as a provision under the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998.
No arrest has been made and the incident is under investigation, according to Dunaway.
When a victim declines prosecution, the incident is still included in the reported numbers for the Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report.
In the first nine weeks of this semester, Public Safety received more reported sexual assaults than in all of 2011, 2012 or 2013.
Dunaway said he hopes the rise can be attributed to education, awareness and approachability of officers.
“As interim chief, that’s been my goal, making officers on campus more approachable,” he said.
Mike Young, associate vice president of Student Affairs, said Public Safety informs Student Affairs of all incidents of sexual assault on campus.
Staff Report
(CLARIFICATION: This article was updated to reflect that the four sexual assaults reported this semester involved students but only three were reported to have occurred on campus. An earlier version of this article had said the Oct. 16 reported sexual assault was the fourth assault on campus this semester).