A student was raped early Friday morning on the University of Denver campus, according to a safety alert posted Monday afternoon.
The student was at The Pioneer, a restaurant and bar at 2401 South University Blvd. She and the suspect returned to her vehicle, which was parked in Lot P just south of the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, the campus safety alert said. The parking lot is about a block from The Pioneer.
The suspect fled the scene, the safety alert said. It was unclear whether the attack happened in the victim’s car or in the parking lot’s lower level, where her car was located.
The alert did not say whether the student and her attacker knew each other or had gone to the restaurant together. The alert also said no suspect description was available.
The university’s Department of Campus Safety was notified of the rape by the Denver Police Department. Both are investigating the case.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education included DU in its list of 55 higher education institutions under investigation for their handling of reports of sexual violence on campus. Four were on the list.
Campus sexual assaults are in the headlines again this week after was sentenced to six months in a county jail after a jury convicted him of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The victim’s letter to the court about the attack’s impact on her have rallied people to support her, and her supporters have protested the sentence, saying it was too lenient.
