JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Concern is peaking in the Capitol over the University of Missouri-Columbia campus in the wake of a violent armed robbery and a string of sexual assaults last month that came on the heels of a damning independent report that criticized the university system for failing to act on information it had.
Three weeks ago, three women reported being sexually assaulted by what police believe to be the same group of roughly six young men. Three women reported similar incidents on both Friday and Saturday of groups of young men approaching and “groping” and “attempting to kiss” the young women.
The University of Missouri Police Department made its first arrest in the incident yesterday, taking 18-year-old Luke Kezekiya Kuol into custody in connection with the investigation. Police are continuing to investigate the assaults.
Early Tuesday morning, two men armed with handguns broke into the school’s Phi Delta Theta fraternity and proceeded to assault and rob two students.
The incidents came just weeks after a report commissioned by the university by outside legal counsel, the Dowd Bennett Law Firm. The investigation came as the result of an extensive examintation into the assault and subsequent suicide of Mizzou student Sasha Menu Courey, a swimmer who sought counseling on campus after she was allegedly assaulted by members of the Mizzou football team.
Menu Courey sought counseling after an alleged in February of 2010, but the incident itself was never reported. She eventually committed suicide in June 2011, and her parents did not become aware of her assault until reading about the incident in her private diary after her death.
The report says that Mizzou did not break any laws, but that the school “acted inconsistently” with federal guidelines regarding Title IX and the reporting of sexual assaults on campus.
“The University’s lack of the necessary policies to ensure compliance with Title IX is significant and appears to have contributed in large part to the University’s failure, as discussed in our additional conclusions, to conduct an appropriate inquiry when University officials had information indicating that Sasha Menu Courey had been sexually assaulted.”
The added pressure to the university system to shore up its policies on sexual assault comes following the April 18 event sponsored by the Missouri Student Association, “It’s On Us,” which featured U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill delivering the keynote address about raising awareness about college campus sexual assault.
The string of incidents has some lawmakers privately whispering about legislative steps that may need to be taken to force campuses to prioritize student safety.
“I’ve had some talks with the University on this issue,” Rep. Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican, said. “There are some things we can do here to make sure the administration understands the priority of keeping students safe.”
Rachael Herndon was the editor at The Missouri Times and also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. She joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer.
Rachael studied at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Brandon, and their two children.
