Since the start of the Spring Semester OUPD has received three sex offense-related crime reports.
An 18-year-old woman reported Saturday to the Ohio University Police Department that she was raped in a campus residence hall about a week ago.
The rape report is the third sex offense-related crime report that OUPD has received this month.
The report states a female OU student reported she was raped on Jan. 18 at 12:30 a.m. by a known individual. The reported rape were reported in Wilson Hall on West Green, according to the report.
The case is being investigated by OUPD. Additionally, the two rape reports filed with OUPD in November are still listed as active and under investigation on the department’s website.
The department is also investigating two separate cases of sexual imposition, which occurred during the first week of Spring Semester.
Two female students reported instances of being inappropriately touched on OU’s campus, according to reports, which were filed within 24 hours of one another.
A woman reported Jan. 15 that she was approached by three males just before 1 a.m. while walking on Jeff Hill. She told OUPD that one male grabbed her arm and touched her breast and buttocks, and then followed her to her East Green dorm room with the two other males. The report was labeled as gross sexual imposition.
In the second report, a women told police Jan. 15 that an unknown man ran up behind her and touched her buttocks while she was walking on the sidewalk between South Green Drive and North McKinley Avenue on Jan. 13. The report was labeled as sexual imposition.
Crime alerts were sent to OU students in wake of the two reports.
OU Police Chief Andrew Powers also addressed the reports on OU’s website. Powers encouraged students to review the university’s sexual misconduct policy and to call the police if they see suspicious conduct on campus.
OUPD also posted video surveillance related to the second report, which shows the suspect approaching the female in the Jan. 13 incident, and then running away.
OU’s Women’s Center Director Susanne Dietzel said sexual assaults are one of the most underreported crimes, adding that reports made to the police or survivor advocacy programs do not reflect the actual number of sexual assaults that have occurred.
“The reason I think that we have seen so many (reports) is because people are actually feeling comfortable to come forward to make those reports,” Dietzel said. “The climate for reporting has improved.”
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