On the night of Saturday, Nov. 22, the SMU Police Departmentreceived an urgent phone call from a young female student.

The woman told police she was at the Airline Garage and feltill. In a recent interview, SMU Police Chief Michael Snellgrovesaid the student told police she did not recall what had happenedfrom the time she left Fondren Library until she placed thecall.

The young woman, accompanied by a SMU police officer, wastransported by ambulance to Presbyterian Hospital where doctorsexamined her.

“They then made the determination that she may have beensexually assaulted based on her statements,” Snellgrovesaid.  The SMU officer then took her to Parkland MemorialHospital and paid $1,000 for a rape test.

Four days later — after The Daily Campus publisheda story about the alleged raped — SMU police issued a flier,describing the incident as a sexual assault. However, on its Website, SMU police continue to report the alleged rape as anillness.

Some students disagree with the way the police handled thereported sexual assault.

“The police seemed to have downplayed the incident,”said Praseetha Cherian, a first year finance and economics major.”It almost seems like they’re making it into a casualoccurrence when it should be taken seriously.”

Snellgrove defended his department’s actions. He said thepolice Daily Activity Report on the Web is based on initialinformation from the victim.

“It’s not common to update the report on the Webpage,” he said.

Some students said the policy results in misleading informationthat could be dangerous.

Erika Foster, a sophomore advertising major, felt her safety wasat risk when police listed the reported sexual assault as anillness.

Brandi Terrell, a first year anthropology major, said it’swrong for the police to publish inaccurate information.

“SMU students and prospective students need to know thatsafety is a concern on campus, especially when the SMU policedon’t accurately report incidents on the activity log,”she said.

Chief Snellgrove emphasized that police do update the officialpolice report.

 “Typically, we’ll report what the originalcall was and any investigations or changes,” Snellgrove said.”We will update our police report and change it to sexualassault.”

However, Snellgrove declined to provide a copy of the policereport or to discuss what it said. SMU police also refused toaccept an open records request for the report.

State and federal law allows students to have access to policereports in certain instances.

   SMU police said a recent change in policy does notpermit it to allow students access to police reports unless theyhave a signature from Dee Siscoe, the dean of Student Life.

The Department of Student Life declined to provide thesignature.

Without access to police reports, SMU students must rely on theDaily Report Log for information about the Nov. 22 incident.

According to the log, “A student called and reported thatshe was in the Airline Garage and was feeling ill. Officers andUniversity Park Paramedics responded.  She was transported toa local hospital for treatment.  Open.”

Four days later, after The Daily Campus story about theincident, police issued the flier. It provided a very differentaccount of what happened. “A student has reported that shewas sexually assaulted in the Airline Parking Garage between 9:20p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22 after leaving Fondren LibraryCenter at SMU. While studying at the library, she became ill afterdrinking from a water bottle that she left unattended for a time,went to her car on the fourth level of the garage, and lostconsciousness. She called SMU police for assistance.”

The delay in issuing the campus alert concerned many.                      

“It frightened me to know that the police department tookso long to send out an alert,” said Shirin Kooros, asophomore advertising major.

Snellgrove said the department delayed notifying studentsbecause it did not want to panic students.

“Before we send out a crime alert, we have to make sure itreally did happen,” he said.

Tiffany Thome, a sophomore finance major, said SMU police shouldhave alerted students immediately about its rape investigation. Shesaid to avoid panic, the police could describe the incident as”alleged.”

 “Not many girls cry wolf, so alerting the campuswould not have us questioning the police department’sdecision,” Thome said.

Dr. Jim Caswell, Dean of Student Affairs, said that in thefuture there should be an electronic alert sent out within 24 hourswhen a student reports a sexual assault. 

 “It does make sense to alert the campus in thismanner,” Caswell said. “In retrospect, I think it [thecampus alert] took too long.”

Snellgrove said SMU police are committed to providing studentswith information about violent crime. “There wasn’t anygrand conspiracy to keep the sexual assault from being known to thegeneral public,” he said.

The chief also stressed that what happened on Nov. 22 was highlyunusual.

“If we had a sexual assault, we’ll say that,”he said. “I’ve never seen anything likethis.”

Some students said they felt misled by the department’sactions.

“I would hope that the SMU police are not trying to saveface,” said April Hammons, a sophomore English major.”They should have a sense of integrity. We do trust them withour safety.”