Four incidents of inappropriate sexual conduct reported in first 6 weeks of academic year

There have been four reported campus-related incidents of inappropriate sexual conduct during the first six weeks of the 2015-16 academic year, according to Director of Public Safety Paul Ominsky.

The first case was when an unidentified male grabbed the buttocks of a female student near the Friend Center on Sept. 17. The second case on Sept. 20 occurred between Whig Hall and Murray-Dodge Hall, when a female student was fondled by an unidentified male. The third case was one of lewdness that occurred on the towpath between Washington Road and South Harrison Street on Oct. 23, when an unidentified man exposed himself to a female University student. The most recent case occurred in 1915 Hall on Oct. 31, when a female student reported that she woke up in bed with a stranger who had his arm around her.

A student was arrested on Thursday on burglary and sexual contact charges related to the Oct. 31 incident.

These four incidents occurred a year afterchanges to the Clery Actrequired universities to comply with new safety and security requirements designed to curtail stalking, domestic violence, dating violence and sexual assault. University faculty members voted last year to lower thestandard of evidencein sexual assault cases from “clear and persuasive” to “preponderance of the evidence.”

“There’s no relationship between any of the cases,” Ominsky said. “There is nothing to suggest that [the cases] are related in any way.”

Compared to the three fondling incidents and one lewdness incident since the beginning of this semester, there were five reported fondling incidents in the entirety of 2014 and none in 2013, according DPS’s 2015 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report released in September.

Ominsky added that there are no known factors within the University or the larger Princeton community that would trigger the rise in these reported assaults.

While all of these cases are ongoing investigations by DPS, he added that the Oct. 23case is also being investigated by the Princeton Police Department, withwhich DPS worksclosely.

“While we have a very safe campus, it’s an open campus and such things can happen,” Ominsky explained.“We always hope they don’t happen, and we investigate every incident that’s reported to us fully. So we’re continuing to investigate those incidents."

Jacqueline Deitch-Stackhouse, the director of the University’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education office, noted the importance of bystander intervention.

“There are so many individuals on this campus who have the capacity to observe problematic behavior and take action when they see it,” she said.“Raising awareness and getting people talking about it would be a precursor to [stopping interpersonal violence]. But it doesn’t stop there.”

She adding that educational opportunities such as awareness months, programs and study breaks are all means to get people talking.

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“The ‘doing’ is about prevention,”Deitch-Stackhouse said. “You need to tune enough people in at the awareness level so that a good portion of them can join in the prevention effort.”

Deitch-Stackhouse added that awareness is the first step, but not the ultimate goal.

“The ultimate goal is to have more and more people in the community — a critical mass, if you will — involved in addressing the risk factors and protective factors that would result in the reduction of interpersonal violence on our campus,” she said.

When asked what DPS will do in the future to make the campus safer, Ominsky replied that DPS will respond immediately to students’ calls and follow up adequately.

Ominsky added that for the University to be safe, the community needs to work with Public Safety should anyone notice suspicious behavior.

“We want people to see something, say something,” he said. “We rely on the community to be our eyes and ears.”

Stefanie Karp, the director of operations at DPS, explained that it is best for students to take caution. She noted that students should be abstaining from activities that can distract one’s alertness, especially at night, and stay within safe routes to their respective dormitories.

“We also advise all students to keep their doors locked — don’t prop your doors, don’t put tape or magnets on your doors. There’s a reason for that. Don’t let someone without an I.D. follow you in,” Karp added.

The Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life deferred comments to University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua.Mbugua deferred comments to DPS and SHARE.

Amada Sandoval, director of the Women’s Center, declined to comment.

Correction: Due to an editing error, the headline of this article has been updated to reflect the fact that there were four incidents of inappropriate sexual conduct in the first six weeks of the semester. The 'Prince' regrets the error.