This week a woman told campus police that she experienced memory loss while at a fraternity, and then was raped. Hours after losing her memory, the woman, 21, woke early Wednesday and noticed injuries “consistent with a rape,” according to the IU Police Department.
The woman reported the rape to the IUPD just four days before the unofficial start of Little 500, an infamous week of partying during which rapes, missing person reports and other violent crime peak. IUPD sent a crime alert via email to all students Thursday.
If this year’s Little 500 bike race is anything like years’ past, crime rates will rise, IUPD Lt. Craig Munroe said. He’s seen it before and he said he hopes students take care of each other.
“Historically, our statistics do go up during that week, and that’s across the board,” Munroe said. “Of course we get a lot of visitors at that time for that week, especially that weekend. There’s a lot of parties.”
In the alleged Wednesday rape, which was reproted to have happened at Phi Delta Theta at 1215 N. Jordan Ave., Munroe said the case is classified as an alleged rape and aggravated assault.
“We think that possibly both crimes were committed,” Munroe said.
Last year IUPD dispatch received 202 calls during the weekend. One hundred seventy-seven people were ticketed. There were three peeping cases at Wright Quad. A group of 39 underage IU students were arrested for underage drinking at a rental property near Columbus, Indiana. There were four rapes.
Two years ago the IU campus grappled with an especially violent crime. In 2015, IU senior Hannah Wilson was abducted from her home after a night out with friends during the Thursday of Little 500 weekend, and was killed.
This year, April 21 and 22 are the scheduled days for the women’s and men’s races, respectively.
To combat the rise in crime, Munroe said IUPD works closely with the Bloomington police and fire departments, ambulance service and state and county police.
The IU crime notification about this alleged rape was issued in compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.
This “is a federal law requiring all higher education institutions who participate in the federal student financial aid program to disclose information about crime on campus, in or on off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by the university and on public property within or immediately adjacent to the campus,” according to the Protect IU website.
The Clery Act is enforced by the United States Department of Education. Institutions that don’t abide by the act risk being fined and losing their ability to be a part of the financial aid program.
IU’s daily crime log is one example of the University’s adherence to the Clery Act. The Protect IU website identifies a handful of Clery-reportable crimes. Rape is one of them.
When any Clery-reportable crime is reported to IUPD, the shift sergeant is required to fill out a decision tree. Essentially, this process helps the department decide whether or not the incident warrants sending out a campus-wide alert. In this case, it was.
“This is about giving you the information you need to protect yourself,” Munroe said.
Additionally, he said with Little 500 right around the corner, there may be similar situations to the one in the email alert particularly in regards to memory loss.
“People need to understand you need to be careful about your open drinks and your trusted friends, who you’re with when you’re out drinking,” Munroe said.
Phi Delta Theta president Chase Whitler told the Indiana Daily Student via text Thursday that the fraternity does “not condone any behavior that is disrespectful to women,” and that the fraternity would cooperate with the IUPD investigation.
As of press time Thursday, IUPD had no available information about a suspect.
“It is obviously an ongoing investigation,” Munroe said. “We’re at the very beginning stages.”
Anyone with information about the incident should contact IUPD at 812-855-4111.
