A female student was sexually assaulted by an unknown male after an off-campus house party between the late hours of Friday, April 28 and Saturday, April 29. This assault marks the eighth reported this semester.
According to an announcement on the myMiami homepage, a female student was leaving an off-campus house party when a male whom she did not know offered to walk her home. She tried to walk away from him, but he led her to a car where she says he assaulted her.
The female student left the car, and her friends were able to find her and take her home. She described the suspect as a biracial male, Caucasian and African American, about 6' with a medium build.
A Campus Crime Alert, the text and email notification system used to alert Miami students and faculty of crimes reported on campus and in Oxford, was not sent out about this assault.
Six females, five Miami students and one non-student, reported that they were sexually assaulted in February. One sexual assault was reported in March as well as one sexual imposition incident.
Of those assaults, four occurred on campus. All of the victims were female, and five of the victims knew the assaulter. Last semester, two sexually assaults were reported, one in August and one in September.
These assaults have occurred in the midst of an investigation into Miami University's potential mishandling of sexual assault cases. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for enforcing Title IX regulations, initiated the investigation in November after a student filed a complaint against the university. The complaint accuses the university of failing to "promptly and equitably respond to complaints, reports and/or incidents of sexual violence of which it had notice."
The university's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, located in room 104 at the Health Services Center, can provide information and resources for victims of sex-based offenses. Information and additional resources can also be found on Miami's Campus Safety and Security website.