Early in Jon Krakauer's new book, Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, he describes how an attempt by the University of Montana in 2012 to help two campus sexual assault victims may have allowed the suspect to flee the country before he could be caught by police.
The university did many things right in complying with federal antidiscrimination and campus safety laws: it kept the victims' identities confidential, it moved swiftly to begin holding the student accused of assault accountable and it sent a campus safety alert, warning students that the assaults had occurred. It did not, however, contact local police, who would have had the power to confiscate the suspect's passport before he boarded a plane back to Saudi Arabia.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/24/new-book-details-u-montanas-citys-mishandling-sexual-assault
University of Montana President Royce Engstrom has insisted repeatedly that UM did nothing wrong when a dean informed a Saudi exchange student that another student had accused him of rape.
The university didn’t notify police. The man fled the country.
Painful though that scenario is, UM administrators say the confidentiality required by federal law and the university’s Student Code of Conduct, under which the woman made her report to then-Dean of Students Charles Couture, left them no other choice.
“The communication by the university was done when it should have been done and in the right sequence of events,” Engstrom said at a public forum after the incident.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/emails-show-um-city-accounts-differ-on-saudi-rape-suspect/article_38924a82-a16b-11e1-8311-001a4bcf887a.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Apparently, if someone is murdered on the UM campus, policy is (or was) to wait until the victim filed a "report" and
then Dean Couture would leap into action and
then, a week after that, issue a "campus safety alert" because, for these giant brains, it is all about "student safety." They said so.
University of Montana Dean of Students Charles Couture did the right thing when he notified a Saudi exchange student – who then left the country – that he’d been accused of rape, UM President Royce Engstrom said Tuesday.
“The communication by the university was done when it should have been done and in the right sequence of events,” Engstrom said at a hastily planned forum for students about two Feb. 10 assaults on campus, allegedly by the same foreign student.
Engstrom reiterated, as he did last week, that the university did not know until Feb. 17 – until she reported it to Couture – that one of the women had been raped. Couture, who had already contacted the Saudi student about the other alleged assault, notified the man that same day about the new accusation, Engstrom said.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/engstrom-um-right-to-alert-saudi-of-rape-accusation/article_cb1735d6-626c-11e1-8073-0019bb2963f4.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
UM policy, if Engstrom was to be believed, was that no campus safety alert would issue until Couture had investigated, and the police would not be notified, but
that the accused would be notified immediately that he had been accused of rape. You know, just a timely "heads up" in case there were any questions about witnesses, evidence, alibi's, etc.
The university then sent a late-afternoon campus-wide email titled “Sexual Assault … Possible Threat to Community.”
“That same evening, communication with the Missoula Police Department occurred,” Engstrom said Tuesday.
In fact, he admitted last week, police contacted the university after seeing the email.
Missoula police then monitored the Saudi student, Engstrom said Tuesday, but legally they could not detain him until an official police report was filed. That was done on Feb. 21 – by which time, the student had fled the country.
“People are understandably angry that a perpetrator escaped,” Engstrom said, adding that he’s angry, too.
But, he said, “he didn’t escape because the university sat on information for a week. … He didn’t escape because the university mishandled the case.”
http://missoulian.com/news/local/engstrom-um-right-to-alert-saudi-of-rape-accusation/article_cb1735d6-626c-11e1-8073-0019bb2963f4.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The University of Montana knew the name of the male student accused of sexually assaulting two female students on campus earlier this month, but waited a week before passing it along to Missoula police.
Police have not been able to find or interview the man, said Missoula Police Detective Sgt. Travis Welsh.
And a fellow student at the UM international students’ residence – where the man, who is Saudi, lived and where at least one of the alleged assaults occurred – said Thursday that the man has not been seen for a few days.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/um-waited-week-to-give-missoula-police-name-of-rape/article_a32d4dbc-5e98-11e1-995a-001871e3ce6c.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A man accused of raping one University of Montana student and assaulting another earlier this month was contacted repeatedly by UM Dean of Students Charles Couture before fleeing the country.
After Couture informed the man – who was accompanied by his lawyer – that he was being accused of sexual assault under the university’s Student Code of Conduct, the man left the area, UM President Royce Engstrom said Friday.
In fact, the man – a Saudi national studying at UM – has left the country, Missoula Mayor John Engen said police told him earlier Friday.
The campus is safer because of the man’s departure, Engstrom said at a news conference that he called to clarify the sequence of events involved in the incidents. He called the university’s actions “timely” and “appropriate.”
http://missoulian.com/news/local/saudi-student-accused-of-um-rape-has-fled-the-u/article_431ba1f8-5f47-11e1-b802-001871e3ce6c.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
That was the first Missoula police heard of the incidents, Engstrom confirmed Friday. Missoula police quickly contacted university administrators, he said. However, a week had passed since the alleged attacks.
“Police learned about it at the time we sent out the email,” Engstrom said. “I believe they contacted us.”
Deputy Chief Mike Brady spoke with university administrators that same evening to request that they meet with Chief Mark Muir and Mayor John Engen, he said. That meeting – which Engstrom called “a very healthy discussion” – took place another week later, on Friday morning, Feb. 24.
“One of the things I think we could do better and will do better is be in contact with Missoula police” after allegations of sexual assault and other serious incidents, Engstrom said.
Friday's email said that Dean of Students Charles Couture is investigating the most recent cases.
The Feb. 10 campus police report lists an incident in which "a female was forced into a vehicle in the Lommasson Center parking lot this morning around 2:30 a.m." That report was categorized as an alcohol offense.
Hannah Lumpry, 23, a senior exercise science major, criticized the timing of the university's email.
Noting that the alleged assaults happened a week before the email went out, "they were a little late getting the notice out. I think it should've been brought to our attention sooner," she said.
http://missoulian.com/news/local/man-suspected-of-sexually-assaulting-um-students-known-but-police/article_83c7352a-5c43-11e1-acee-0019bb2963f4.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
That was February 21. Four weeks later, Engstrom fired Coach Pflugrad and AD O'Day.
