Volume CXXXI, Number 21 April 12, 2002 f

Bates rape unnerves students
JAMES FISHER
ORIENT STAFF

Security forces, including police officers, flooded the Bates campus following the rape of a female student there last weekend. Long-term measures, including installation of a ID card-based building access system, are likely to follow, said Bates administrators.

The student told police she was forced into a women's bathroom in Pettengill Hall, a centrally located building on the Bates campus. She said that her attacker held a sharp object to her throat. The student was raped just after midnight on Friday, April 5. Pettengill houses a large atrium, which is a popular study spot for late-night studying, said Director of College Relations Brian McNulty. The identity of the attacker is unknown, but police released a sketch of the suspect based on the victim's description.

In a message to the student body, President Donald Harward said that at the time of the attack, a security guard was at the front desk and making rounds of the building, including the bathrooms, every hour. Dean of Students Celeste Branham said that the building was open 24 hours a day during the pre-exam and exam periods as a student study space. Normally, she said, the doors would be locked at midnight.

Bates hired Lewiston police officers to patrol the campus last weekend after the rape. Branham said that police officers will continue to be posted in Pettengill and other buildings throughout the exam period, which ends this Saturday.

Harward pledged to "re-examine all elements of our campus systems and structures with regard to the security of our students." Branham said that the college had been considering a "one-card access system" to its buildings, and that "we are very likely at this time to move in that direction." Currently, Bates students have key access to their own dorms, but cannot use their keys or ID cards to enter other locked buildings.

The Lewiston Sun Journal reported Wednesday that Lewiston police have identified suspects "inside and outside the Bates community." Branham sent an email message to all students Wednesday morning specifically denying the Sun Journal report. She said that detectives told her they have no suspects related to the college, and are pursuing external leads.

Bates students have been shaken by the assault. "Bates isn't a bubble," said Adrienne Eaton, a member of the Women's Resource Center, "and unfortunately, things like this happen." Student groups and administrators have organized discussions for students on the subject. "We are trying to work as a community, regaining safety, and supporting each other," said Anne Barlow, who coordinates Bates' Students Against Sexual Assault organization.

Lewiston police are also investigating a second sexual assault that occurred last weekend in a downtown parking lot. Detectives do not believe that the two incidents are related.

The rape was the second major crime to touch the Bates campus this semester. In early March, senior Morgan McDuffee was killed during a fight in downtown Lewiston. Police arrested Brandon Thongsavanh, a Lewiston resident, and charged him with McDuffee's murder. His trial is pending.