York University not doing enough to warn of sex assaults, students say
York University has done little to notify students about three sex assaults that happened in broad daylight on campus last week, students say.
Three women reported being sexually assaulted on York campus last Thursday and Friday around 3 p.m. near Vari Hall, a student concourse. The victims, aged 21 to 33, say they were touched sexually by a man after leaving a TTC bus stop in front of Vari Hall. The man allegedly attempted to engage the victims in conversation before they were assaulted.
Police have not arrested any suspects.
The university’s news portal YFile has not published a notification about last week’s assaults.
“YFile is a two-day-a-week operation,” said Sandra McLean, deputy editor at YFile. “These incidents happened in between.”
The university’s Centre for Women and Trans People wrote an emergency notification on Monday, five days after the first assault.
“We are just about to put out a newsletter,” said Arti Mehta, a coordinator at the centre.
Nicole Brewer takes summer classes and holds a secretary job at the school. She hadn’t heard about last week’s assaults when the Star contacted her Sunday.
“I haven’t seen anything on the news or TV’s,” said Brewer, who is on campus four times a week and lives five minutes from the student village. She added that she hadn’t spotted any security bulletins posted on campus.
Vanessa Hunt, president of the York Federation of Students, says YFile should have made efforts to notify students online sooner.
“Whether or not a thousand students read it, it should be on there. It should be publicized. People need to know what’s going on,” Hunt said.
She added that while the university did post security bulletins across campus, they could’ve done more.
“We keep pushing. They could really do better for communications with students.”
York says security presence has been increased as police and security look for a suspect.
The victims describe the suspect as a black male about 6 feet tall with a thin face and short, black afro. In one of the assaults, the suspect was with a black man about five-foot-seven with a stocky build.
“We take these assaults, which involved unwanted touching, very seriously. The victims have been offered counselling,” said university spokesperson Janice Walls.
York has previously made headlines for sex assaults.
In 2007, two sexual assaults in dorm rooms led to amped up security and the arrest of a university graduate.
— Torstar News Service
