An employee at Stanford University said she was dragged into a campus basement and raped last Friday afternoon, prompting concern from students on campus.
The university said the incident happened on the school’s Palo Alto campus around 12:30 p.m. on October 7. Officials were made aware of it less than 3 hours later.
“The victim indicated she was working in her office when a man came into her office, grabbed her, dragged her into a basement, and raped her,” Stanford’s Department of Public Safety said in a statement. “The victim does not want to provide a statement to law enforcement about the crime at this time.”
Stanford DPS also said they were not given information about what building the alleged crime happened in or what the suspect looked like. They were notified about the report by a mandated reporter rather than the victim.
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Students walk on the Stanford University campus in Stanford, California, March 14, 2019.
(Ben Margot)
“As required by law, a mandated reporter notified Stanford DPS that an adult female reported having been sexually assaulted by an adult male,” the report explained.
Stanford’s DPS followed up in a statement on Saturday, assuring the public that they are investigating “based on the limited information that is available thus far.”
While it may be shocking that a violent rape was not reported to police by the victim, Stanford DPS acknowledged why some victims may find it difficult to report. The department also recognized that they lacked specific details about the incident.
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“The initial report to DPS may include very little information. It may not include the name of the person who originally reported the incident, the location, the name of a suspect, or any other identifying information,” Stanford DPS elaborated. “This is why some alerts to the community, in turn, may have very little information.”
A Stanford University employee was raped in a basement, campus officials say.
(iStock)
“We urge anyone in the campus community who may have useful information to share it with DPS,” the statement added.
Many students were reportedly alarmed by the news and wished the university was more open about how they plan to handle security matters.
“I do wish they were talking about how they were addressing building security and making sure this doesn’t happen again,” graduate student Meena Chakraborty told FOX 2 San Francisco. “That would be nice.”
The incident was reported more than a month after a woman was reportedly grabbed from a parking lot and raped near Wilbur Hall. The previous victim also did not want to report the crime to DPS officers.
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The two incidents happened over seven years after Stanford swimmer Brock Turner raped Chanel Miller on campus while she was unconscious.
Turner was given a light six-month jail sentence, prompting outrage from protestors across the country.
