Rape not reported to campus

A 30-year-old woman was raped early Wednesday morning by a white male on the corner of South Columbia Street and Cameron Avenue, according to University police reports.

In the midst of a police investigation, the woman closed the second-degree rape case Friday, said Randy Young, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

But the campus community received no formal notification of the incident.

"Shouldn't we be warning females on campus?" said Gary Bishop, professor of computer science, who heard of the incident by word of mouth.

"That was the thing that got my dander up. There was an assault on campus, and we haven't warned anybody about it."

He said he found out about the assault only because some of his colleagues saw the remnants of the crime scene Wednesday morning near Peabody Hall.

Young said the University is required to warn students if there is evidence the offender might attack again. He said there was no such evidence in this case.

"Currently, our investigators believe there is no ongoing threat to the community," he said.

But many say University officials should notify students of all attacks.

In the past, schools have been held civilly liable in court for a crime when the school failed to notify the student body of possible dangers.

Bishop said officials should remind students of potential dangers on a regular basis because many believe they are invincible.

"Besides being a professor, I'm also a father of a junior," he said. "So I might worry about these things more than other professors."

Many students -when informed of the incident - also said they were concerned no one had been alerted.

"They should definitely make sure everyone on campus knows about it," said Sarah Caudle, a junior from Enfield.

She said that at the very least a profile of the offender should be sent out to students.

"It's one thing if a rape happens in the town of Chapel Hill," she said. "But it's another if it happens on campus."

According to the Department of Public Safety, this was the third rape on campus this year.

The incident has forced some to question the degree of safety on campus.

Kelton Wright, a sophomore from Cleveland, said that she normally feels perfectly safe on campus but that news of the rape is disturbing to her - especially because she did not hear about it from campus officials.

"I'm really disappointed in administrators for not informing the greater student body," she said.

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.