Officers from the University of Wisconsin Police Department arrested three UW students Wednesday in connection with a second degree sexual assault that took place on campus last semester.
According to a UWPD statement, police arrested students Brian K. Allen, 18, of Menomonee Falls; Prentice A. Williams, 18, of Milwaukee; and Bruce H. Beckley, 18, of Milwaukee in connection with an incident that occurred in Witte Hall Sept. 10, 2011.
UWPD Sgt. Aaron Chapin said all three arrested students attend UW and the students have been detained in the Dane County Jail.
All three of the arrested male subjects reportedly knew the adult female victim, who is not a student at UW, according to the UWPD statement.
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said for his district – which encompasses Witte Hall and is student-dominated – these types of incidents are not common. He said although he did not have any more details about the incident, ones like it generally are not normal in his district.
“These incidents – although very unfortunate – do happen, but in general we live in a safe campus in comparison to the city we live in,” Resnick said. “UWPD and the Madison Police Department work very hard and closely to make sure these cases are very few and far between.”
Chapin said with this case in mind, he wanted to stress the importance of resources for students on campus, including the Rape Crisis Center and the Dean of Students Office. He said he encourages students who are facing these situations to reach out to the resources available.
Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment spokesperson Jacqueline O’Reilly said when cases like these come to light, it shows the prevalence of a pressing issue. She said one in four women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape at some point during her time on campus.
“We also hope it will move people to action,” she said. “While this one case happened – and our condolences go out to the victim and their family – these cases are happening constantly, and we can’t wait for a headline in the news to take action.”
O’Reilly said another issue relating to this case is the large amount of incoming UW freshmen who have not had any sexual assault education beyond basic tips that involves the standard tips of “don’t walk alone at night” or “don’t drink too much.”
She said PAVE would like to see UW make more of an effort to take action dealing with primary prevention education, which focuses more on defining sexual consent and teaching more about community resources.
Chapin said no other details currently are available about the arrests or investigation but that follow-up with the suspects and continued investigation are underway.
