 "Photo: Michelle Wiggley")
A man who allegedly raped a 23-year-old student at gunpoint about 1:20 a.m. Friday on campus has yet to be found.
The man grabbed the woman's arm, made verbal threats and pointed a gun at her near the corner of West Second Street and Normal Avenue, said Lt. Robyn Hearne of University Police.
The suspect allegedly dragged the woman to the Trinity Hall area and raped her at gunpoint, Hearne said.
A third party called the police for the victim, Hearne said.
The suspect fled before the police arrived, and it still remains unclear whether the victim knew her assailant, Hearne said.
"The victim did speak to us on the phone at one point, but did not make the call," Hearne said.
Senior Jessica O'Donnell, student director of the Women's Center, thinks the university tended to ignore the dangers on campus in the past because if every rape in Chico was reported, the university would develop a negative stigma, she said.
"I sometimes put myself in bad situations like this one," O'Donnell said. "I want to feel safe when I am walking alone, and it isn't fair that I have to worry."
The Women's Center provides help for assault victims by letting them know about counseling and other resources they can use, O'Donnell said.
The university is making strides to help the safety issues on campus with a new project, Space Request, founded by Lori Beth Way, director of the Collaborative Response to Violence Project.
Funded by a three-year $471,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Space Request will provide services for victims, violence prevention education and training for officers and counselors, Way said.
"This is my 10th year here, and I have a student every year come to me about sexual assault," she said.
About one in six women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. College-age women are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other women.
About 85 percent of rape victims know their attackers, said Yvonne Loomis, counselor at the Rape Crisis Intervention Center in Chico.
The center offers free, confidential counseling and help to those who want to talk, Loomis said.
"The best chance anyone has is to make sure they find someone to talk to about how they feel," she said. "What we don't want to deal with pops up a decade or more later."
The woman described the suspect as a white man, about 25- to 35-years-old with short, light-colored hair and a thin build, police said. He is about 5 foot 8 inches to 5 foot 10 inches tall and was wearing a dark-colored shirt and blue jeans.
University Police ask anyone with any information to contact them at 898-5555.
Ben Burg can be reached at bburg@theorion.com
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