Richmond students already receive third email regarding a reported sexual assualt

Less than one month into the academic year, University of Richmond students have already received their third timely warning email regarding a reported sexual assault.

The University of Richmond Police Department received information at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday from a campus security authority that a student was sexually assaulted in the early morning hours of September 20 at an on-campus residence hall, according to a timely warning email students received.

Campus police was not immediately available for comment.

Students at Richmond, which is under federal investigation for a Title IX policy complaint, have received two additional timely warning regarding reported sexual assaults this year: The first came on Aug. 24, the first day of classes, and the second email was sent on Sept. 4. Aside from these two messages, the earliest timely warning email students have received in the past four years was sent on Sept. 25, 2012.

More than 20 percent of female undergraduates said they were victims of sexual assault and misconduct, according to the results from the Association of American Universities survey, which were released Monday. More than 150,000 students from 27 universities, including several Ivy league schools, responded to the survey.

The results from the aforementioned survey differ little from the White House's Not Alone report, released in April 2014. "One in five women is sexually assaulted in college," reads the opening line of the report.

The three reports came during the Red Zone, a term describing the first few weeks of the academic year where first and second year students are most susceptible to sexual violence.

About 95 percent of rapes on American college campuses go unreported, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Contact Jack Nicholson at jack.nicholson@richmond.edu