UNCW Police and students on recent sexual assault uptick

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — With sexual assaults reported at UNCW since September 13, some students are on edge.

“It’s a little unsettling. Especially with the parking situation the university has on campus right now, there’s not a lot of parking next to my dorm,” said sophomore Natalie Watson.
“I’ve heard rumors,” freshman Jasmin Singh continued, “and I don’t know what’s true and what’s not. But I know it’s like, definitely a real threat.”

Thursday, UNCW Police sharing more information about the assaults. According to Chief Chris Bertram, four of these reports involved unwanted touching and fondling. One involved rape. Three of those reports came from the same residence hall, though none of the reports share the same alleged aggressors.

Bertram says though the back-to-back reports are out of the ordinary, this year’s total is not. Since January, 10 sexual assaults have been reported, compared to 2020’s nine.

“However the fact that we had five within a five week period is unusual,” he admitted.

Though three of the five reports were from the same residence hall, Bertram says none of them are related. In every case, the survivor, all of them female, knew the alleged perpetrator (all of them male in these cases). There were no instances of people attacking victims at random.

According to both Bertram and UNCW’s CARE Director Jen August, sexual assault is traumatizing. Many survivors opt out of reliving that trauma in court and counseling.

“Most people who come to our office don’t want to explore legal options because it feels like if they go to police, they would be ruining someone’s life,” said August.

When asked if most victims choose to take their cases to court when investigations end, he responded, “No. They deal with it in their own way. I think for some it may be that they don’t want to have to go through it again in a courtroom.”

August believes these latest incidents indicate an increase in people reporting their assaults, not an increase of assaults themselves. August works with sexual assault survivors daily, hopes the uptick of reports means more survivors wanting to seek justice.

“I think the fact that we’ve had these five cases reported show that UNCW and the UNCW Police Department is making it safe for people to come forward and feel that their cases are taken care of and taken seriously, and something will be done about it.”

UNCW Police offers several services on campus, including police escorts late at night, self defense courses, a hotline and LiveSave app.

Though CARE and Title IX, survivors can change rooms or residence halls, get parking spots closer to their dorms, file police reports, and get counseling.