Posted on March 29, 2007
JMU Campus Police did not send out a Timely Notification Bulletin to the campus community regarding an alleged rape incident that occurred in a JMU dorm room on Nov. 18, 2006, citing the main reason as the existence of a prior relationship between the victim and the suspect, JMU freshman Eric Gustafson.
Gustafson was indicted on rape charges in connection with the incident by the Rockingham County Grand Jury on March 22 and was set to turn himself in to authorities Wednesday morning.
When referring to how university police chose to handle this case, JMU Spokesperson Don Egle said, “The biggest thing is that the two individuals knew each other. It was reported immediately by the alleged victim in this case.”
As of last week, JMU Police logs showed that Gustafson is still a student at the university, Egle said.
JMU Police’s daily crime log shows that the alleged rape occurred on Nov. 18 at 1 a.m. and was reported to police the same morning at 4:59 a.m.
Egle added that there are a “number of factors that go into reporting timely warnings.”
The timely warning notification is one of many provisions in the Jeanne Clery Disclosure and Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. According to the act, which was created in 1991 and given its current name in 1998, institutions are required to send timely warnings to their respective university communities when crimes are “considered to be a threat to other students and employees … that are reported to campus security or local law police agencies.”
The act does cite some exceptions to this rule. In the case that the information in a timely warning is illegal, would risk the victim’s confidentiality, or jeopardize a continuing police investigation and the safety of those involved, the relevant information is not required to be disclosed until those risks have subsided.
Egle said, “My view is that the legal process needs to play out. We can re-evaluate [the situation] after that takes place.”
Students have expressed differing opinions on whether acquaintance rape makes a difference in reporting the crime to the campus community.
Freshman Matt Fessler, who said he heard about the alleged rape before Winter Break, said he thinks JMU Police should have notified the campus community.
“It should be reported just like any other incident. There’s still a danger,” Fessler said. “It doesn’t matter. Rape is rape.”
According to the JMU Public Safety Web site, one timely warning has been sent about a rape on campus. This incident allegedly occurred on Nov. 14, 2000 at 7 p.m. in the JMU parking lot E1, which, according to the notification, is located east of the Health Center and just south of the Rockingham Memorial Hospital parking deck.
The warning said, “Until this investigation has been concluded it can be assumed that conditions continue to exist that may pose a threat to members and guests of the community.”
Junior Carly Swift said she also heard about the alleged on-campus rape after reading the Daily News-Record last week. However, she said she thinks acquaintance rape does not pose as large of a threat.
“A stranger is a lot different than an acquaintance,” Swift said. “It’s not like ‘look out for a rapist,’ because it’s not like the rapist is still out there.”
Egle said sexual offenses on or around JMU’s campus have been fairly rare. Statistics from the JMU annual campus crime report for 2005-06 show that in 2005, there were four forcible sexual offenses in on-campus residential facilities. There were a total of six forcible sexual offenses on campus.
Even though these numbers have remained fairly low, graduate student and Hillside Hall’s Hall Director John Birch said one of the most important things in keeping an on-campus residence hall safe is to have a sense of community within that dorm.
“The biggest thing is to know your residents and try to work with that,” Birch said. “It reverts back to building that community and knowing who you live with.”
Egle added that the university is always concerned with the safety of those on or around campus.
“[At] any university, specifically James Madison, there is a strong commitment to public safety of its students faculty, staff and even the surrounding community,” he said. “When you have an organization that’s very clear and open about its commitment, that’s a really strong statement.”
