by Jordan Johnson & Darian Whitmore
News Editor & Assistant News Editor
The third sexual assault reported on campus in August this year was reported to UCAPD on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 12:19 p.m.
According to an email circulated by UCAPD on the day of the report, the alleged assault took place two days prior at 6 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28.
The email stated that the individual who reported the assault was a student. The alleged victim reported being attacked by another student.
The alleged assault occurred in a university-owned apartment complex, according to the email.
Officer Hopper confirmed that the incident took place in university-owned housing, but did not identify the exact housing complex.
However, UCAPD’s daily crime log entry for the incident stated that it occurred in building two of Bear Village Apartments.
Resident Assistant for Bear Village and senior Mikayla Ogle said she didn’t know anything about the incident other than what was stated in the UCAPD email.
Ogle said Bear Village RAs had not undergone any training in response to the recent incident, but at least one lesson has been scheduled for RAs.
“This month we’re doing a self-defense-geared lesson,” Ogle said.
The alleged victim reported that the assailant was an acquaintance. No arrests have been made and no suspect has been named.
UCA Associate Vice President for Communications, Public Relations and Marketing Christina Madsen declined to comment on the alleged assault because she said she wasn’t able to get information from UCAPD during the holiday weekend.
According to Hopper, the first sexual assault reported this month also involved acquaintances.
“The first one that we had reported to us, they were acquaintances,” Hopper said. “The second one, the information that we got was that they were not acquaintances.”
Beyond the fact that both the first and most recent reported assaults were carried out by acquaintances of the victim, Hopper said there is no known connection between the three recent assaults.
“Right now we don’t have any reason to believe they’re related,” Hopper said.
According to the 2015 Clery Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, which UCA publishes each year in accordance with the Clery Act, there was only one sexual assault reported in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available.
However, four were reported in 2013 and six were reported in 2012. All were reported to have taken place on campus.
Hopper said that the next Clery Report would be released “sometime this month.”
The 2016 report will include data from 2015. There have already been three reports of sexual assault since the beginning of August.
It is unclear whether more sexual assaults are occurring or whether more individuals are reporting it.
“I really can’t speculate on that,” Hopper said. The most recent email sent out by UCAPD included both safety tips for students and a statement of support for victims of sexual assault.
“Sex offenses are treated with the greatest seriousness on our campus,” the email read. “If a criminal case is brought, we will support you as much as possible as you pursue it.”
