OU students alerted to only 1 of 2 rapes

Two rapes were reported on Ohio University’s campus over the weekend, but the university police department issued a crime alert to students for only one of them.

Crime alerts are issued on a case-by-case basis in accordance with a federal law that requires colleges to send timely notifications to students when serious crimes occur, according to a spokesman for campus police.

“We are required to notify the community when we believe that an incident represents an ongoing threat to the community,” OU police spokesman Tim Ryan said in an email.

Police released few details about either incident, so it is unclear why circumstances warranted an alert for one but not the other.

Ryan added that investigators have no information that would suggest the two incidents are related.

The university’s police department issued a crime alert Monday evening for a reported rape that had occurred sometime between 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday near Brown residence hall on South Green.

Another person reported a rape that happened around midnight Saturday near the Convocation Center on the West Green. Paramedics took that victim to OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital in Athens, the student newspaper The Post reported, citing the campus police department’s radio call logs.

Anna Strayer, a 21-yearold junior, said she checks her email frequently and saw the crime alert.

“I haven’t heard many students talking about it, except when I brought it up in a club meeting just now,” Strayer said. The mood on campus Tuesday was nothing out of the ordinary, she said.

Former Post Editor Megan Henry, a former Dispatch intern, said she was working on a group project with classmates when they saw the alert Monday night. It was especially troubling because no description of the suspect was included, she said.

“(The rapist) could be literally anyone,” said Henry, a senior.

Henry added that she was taking extra precautions, such as traveling with groups and holding her keys when walking on campus.

Both students expressed concern that the university issued an alert for only one of the rapes.

“It’s pretty jarring for students when they don’t send out a crime alert for every rape,” Henry said. “How did they decide when to send out alerts?”

Students should be aware of both reports of rapes, Strayer said.

“As a community, we need to be aware of what’s happening and why, so we can help stop it from happening again,” she said.