Sexual Assault Reported on Campus: Here’s What We Know
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February 29, 2020
Early on the afternoon of Feb. 29, 2020, the University of Utah campus police department released a statement regarding a sexual assault on campus. Still under investigation, the police department has yet to release information about which residence hall the assault occurred at.
The suspect is male and has yet to be identified as a student at the U, according to the safety warning. The victim has been confirmed as a non-U student.
Students received a text message from the university at 11:55 a.m. alerting them of the assault through the campus-wide safety initiative.
The Safety Warning statement was released as part of the university’s police department’s commitment to “provide timely, accurate and validated information about serious or ongoing threats to the campus community.”
Recent history of failure to provide timely information and reaction to the student’s concerns and in regards to the handling of the Lauren McCluskey case has caused distrust in the police and has prompted more transparency.
The Daily Utah Chronicle has reached out to Lt. Jason Hinojosa, a representative from the campus police department. He said they have no names for the suspect and are looking at the video footage.
“We want to give her some time to rest and recuperate,” Hinojosa said in a phone interview.
Hinojosa said he did not have more information he could disclose at this time.
Housing and Residential Education staff are on-call and available to support residents. Additionally, UPD encourages any students with possibly helpful information to contact them at 801-585-2677.
The Daily Utah Chronicle will continue to update this story as we receives more information.
