Students receive second timely warning email regarding sexual assault

A sexual assault that involved a known person was reported to University of Richmond’s Police Department at 5 p.m. Friday, according to a timely warning email faculty, staff and students received from URPD.

The alleged assault occurred in the early morning hours of Sept. 4, according to the email. URPD was unavailable for comment.

This alert is the second timely warning email students received this year, with the first coming Aug. 24, the first day of classes.

Both 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.

“I want us to live in a community where it just doesn’t happen period," said Kerry Fankhauser, dean of Westhampton College. "But it’s not unexpected that someone would experience sexual violence."

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

Aside from these two messages, the earliest timely warning email students have received in the past four years was sent on Sept. 25, 2012.

Contact editor-in-chief Jack Nicholson at jack.nicholson@richmond.edu