IU students have received two crime notifications relating to sexual assaults in just over a week. That’s because ten days is what separates two different alleged sexual assaults in IU dorm rooms.
The first reportedly took place on Sept. 25 at Wright Quad, where a 19-year-old student told police she raped and choked by someone she had met online. The student reported to IUPD that she met the 18-year-old man on an unspecified social media app. Capt. Craig Munroe said there had been no arrests in the case as of Oct. 4 and that his department was still investigating.
SUBJECT: CRIME NOTICE – REPORTED CRIME—Rape and Aggravated AssaultIU Bloomington Crime Notice: 09/25/2018In…
Posted by IUPD-Bloomington on Tuesday, September 25, 2018
In the second case, a 17-year-old girl reported she was raped at McNutt Quad while visiting IU over the weekend. She alleges it was by a young man also visiting IU and unaffiliated with the University.
IU BLOOMINGTON Crime Notice:October 3, 2018In compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security…
Posted by IUPD-Bloomington on Wednesday, October 3, 2018
The accused is a 19-year-old who lives in Indianapolis. The young woman visited a hospital in Indianapolis. The hospital then reported it to IUPUI police, who in turn reported it to IUPD in Bloomington since the incident allegedly took place in an IU dorm room. There have also been no arrests in this case.
“We can’t always be there to stop things. We’re out in the public where these things don’t generally happen. So what we try to address is maybe some of the root causes of what’s going on out there or maybe the alcohol and the drug consumption, things like that,” Capt. Craig Munroe said.
Munroe said on Wednesday that police had spoken to the 17-year-old and were scheduling a time to meet with the accused. According to the IDS, Munroe would not confirm whether the girl had a rape kit performed at the hospital.
Munroe said that cases of sexual assault on the IU campus involving non-students are not common but not unheard of. Police are still investigating, but Munroe said he would not be surprised if alcohol was involved because, statistically, many sexual assault cases involve drinking.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, researchers have found that about half of sexual assaults on college campuses involve a situation in which the perpetrator, the victim, or both were consuming alcohol. About 43 percent of sexual assault events involve alcohol use by the victim; 69 percent involve alcohol use by the perpetrator.
“In the case of sexual assault, one is too many. We want it to completely stop,” Munroe said. “If we can’t do that let’s do the best we can to reduce, let’s not make it easy on anybody to victimize our students or our visitors.”
