Campus deserved alert

After UNC students learned that Alert Carolina failed to immediately notify students that a woman was raped close to campus in the early morning of Feb. 9, their response was vocal and critical.

The outcry was merited; regardless of who the victim is, students should be concerned if a woman was raped in an alley a few yards away from the Hanes Art Center.

Last Friday afternoon, nearly two days after the rape occurred, students who happened to check The Daily Tar Heel’s website were greeted with a brief staff report telling them a rape had occurred near campus in the hours after the Duke game.

Alert Carolina, however, neglected to send any form of communication until Tuesday afternoon, five days after the rape was reported to police and three days after the news was reported by The Daily Tar Heel.

In the initial story, UNC Department of Public Safety spokesman Randy Young said his information about the incident was limited because the Chapel Hill Police Department was the primary investigator, apparently offering an explanation for the lack of communication with students.

But when a crime like this occurs in such close proximity to campus — and to Franklin Street on a night when much of the student body was out and about — campus should be notified.

Students’ widespread concern has not gone unnoticed. Assistant Dean of Students Melinda Manning said she and her colleagues are considering how the publicizing of the incident to students should factor into the University’s changing sexual assault reporting policies.

DPS, too, has taken note of students’ reactions and says it will take this incident into account when it reviews its policies, which it does on an ongoing basis, independent of (but not apathetic to) student concern about its practices.

It’s unclear exactly where the breakdown in communication occurred. It might be a question of better, faster exchanges of information between UNC’s Department of Public Safety and Chapel Hill police. Or DPS may simply need to refine its criteria for what is and isn’t alert-worthy.

What can’t happen again, however, is a moment like last Friday, when many students were left wondering why they hadn’t been notified of the rape.

But the truly unsettling question was the one that inevitably followed: How often does this happen? Is the alleged rapist on the loose? Is there a threat to campus safety?

In other words, if the decision not to notify students about the rape had anything to do with a desire not to instill unnecessary fear, Alert Carolina missed the mark. If anything, the confusion and lack of communication made things worse.

There’s no need for Alert Carolina to send an alarming text message if the circumstances are such that there is no longer an ongoing threat to students (i.e., if a suspect is apprehended or if police can somehow determine it was an isolated incident).

But if the crime is serious enough to be reported as a rape, then it at least merits an email from Alert Carolina. And this email must be timely. Five days after the fact is far too late.

The time is ripe for the University to consider these concerns, since a national mandate from the Office of Civil Rights had necessitated that it review its sexual assault reporting policies.

As it works to establish a standardized procedure for victims to report sexual crimes, the University and town must also work to set up a more effective, more efficient mechanism for the way it informs the community about these crimes.