Kerrin Murray
News Editor
According to the FSU Crime Statistics Report from 2010 and information provided by Dean of Students Melinda Stoops for 2011, there has been an increase in documented sexual assaults on campus.
Six cases of sexual assault were reported in 2010, according to the annual FSU crime statistics report for that year. For calendar year 2011, Stoops reported eight cases to FSUPD.
In order to conform with the Federal Campus Security Act and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, Framingham State, along with other campuses, must compile a crime statistics report yearly.
Stoops said the official 2011 calendar year report is not out yet. “I report numbers to the chief of police that involve residence life numbers, the counseling center and health services. I can’t say that is the final number because campus police may have numbers from elsewhere [which will be known once the official report is out].”
Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, there has been one case reported, according to campus police logs.
“There are different ways that students can report it [sexual assault] and the response is different depending on whom they report to,” said Stoops.
Stoops said the Counseling Center and Health Services are required by law to protect the confidentiality of any victim who reports an offense. “I would know very limited information about what happened, but they [Counseling Center or Health Services] report it to myself and to campus police.
“We want to honor the requests and rights of the individual, but we are also are trying to protect the larger community,” said Stoops. If a student were to communicate with his or her RA or someone in Residence Life, there is “a different standard in regards to confidentiality.”
She said a police or judicial filing would not be required, but she would be notified by Residence Life, of the incident and the student who was involved. “Given the situation, I may or may not follow up with the student – it depends on the circumstances,” said Stoops.
Chief of Campus Police Brad Medeiros said, “We encourage anyone to come forward. … It allows us to remove the threat.
“The majority of the department goes through close to a 40-hour training course with either the state police or the municipal police training academy as far as our sexual assault training goes,” said Medeiros.
Medeiros said the Threat Assessment Team [Dean of Students Melinda Stoops, Director of the Counseling Center Paul Welch and the Director of Residence Life Glenn Cochran] meets weekly with him to discuss all of the incidents to which officers and Residence Life respond.
“Each week [every Monday], we are actually taking an in-depth look at every situation with every individual that we deal with to ensure that they are evaluated appropriately. All the key resource people are there at this meeting.”
A minimum of two to three officers and a dispatcher are assigned to each shift and department officers patrol the campus and answer calls on a 24-hour basis.
“We have well over 60 CC TV cameras [closed-circuit televisions] in and around the entire outside of the campus area,” said Medeiros.
In addition, there is an institutional security officer who patrols the campus and the academic buildings and there are code blue phones located outside of every dorm and academic building, behind Hemenway Hall and in the campus parking lots.
He advised students to utilize the shuttle bus service whenever possible because the campus is open to public roads.
“You really never know who is driving up and down the roadways … as innocent as it could be. Sometimes, bad people can land anywhere,” said Medeiros.
Stoops said in order to minimize the risk of becoming a victim, a student needs to “look at the choices that you are making” and not hesitate to call for help. She also advised students to go out in groups with people they know and are comfortable with and not to leave anyone alone or behind.
“If you are drinking, make sure you are with people you know and trust. … Really pay attention to what is going on,” said Stoops.
Medeiros said the FSUPD has many crime prevention programs available – one of which is called R.A.D. [Rape Aggression Defense] which is taught by Sergeant Karen Nicholas.
R.A.D. is specifically geared toward women as it teaches them how to be confident in their abilities to protect themselves in a verbal or physical attack.
According to the FSUPD Facebook page, the crime prevention unit will host a “Sexual Assault Awareness program” on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. in DPAC. The event will be open to students, faculty and staff.
