Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual violence or assault. Resources are available here.
The IU Police Department arrested the suspect of an attempted sexual assault Nov. 10. The victim, a student at IU, was provided with support and resources afterwards according to an IUPD news release.
IUPD first responded to a call of an attempted sexual assault in progress in Dunn Woods, south of the Student Building on IU’s campus at 5:34 p.m., according to the release. Several bystanders who witnessed the attempted sexual assault intervened in the situation.
The suspect, Brian Jones, who is not affiliated with IU, was later arrested at the intersection of Fourth St. and Lincoln St. Jones and was taken to Monroe County Jail and charged with attempted rape, sexual battery, battery with injury, confinement and criminal trespass.
According to IUPD’s crime log, there have been 14 rapes and 11 sexual batteries reported on campus since Aug. 17, not including this case.
From the start of the fall semester until Thanksgiving break — a period known as the Red Zone — students on college campuses are at higher risk for sexual assault.
According to IU’s 2023 Security and Public Safety Report there were 38 rapes reported on IU Bloomington’s campus and five rapes reported off-campus in 2022. In the same year, there were 35 cases of fondling, which is the unconsensual touching of private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, reported on Bloomington’s campus, with an additional two occurring off-campus.
The number is a marked increase from previous years. In 2021, there were a combined 31 cases of rape on and off-campus and 21 cases of fondling. In 2020, there were 25 reports of rape and seven reports of fondling, although on-campus instruction paused mid-March that year due to the pandemic and did not resume until the fall.
The amount of rape cases reported in 2022 far exceed reports of robbery, burglary and aggravated assault. But other crimes like domestic violence, dating violence and stalking were reported 22, 33 and 77 times in 2022, respectively. Those numbers had also increased from previous years.
The numbers dwarf reports at other IU campuses, with the closest being IUPUI with nine reports of rape in 2022. However, IU Bloomington has a much higher enrollment than IUPUI and other IU campuses.
Despite these numbers, more than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report their assaults, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
A list of resources is available here if you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment or abuse.
