Ben Bernard arrived at Goucher College one recent morning, stunned to find police officers swarming the usually serene campus.
“You wouldn’t really expect it at a place like Goucher,” the 21-year-old senior said.
Many of the 2,400 students at the private, liberal arts school in Towson have been shocked to learn of a series of alleged sexual assaults that officials believe took place this semester on and off campus.
In addition, what appears to be a separate incident, three people broke into a dorm room Friday evening, robbing the students who live there, according to Baltimore County police.
“Usually at Goucher, you know almost everybody, so it’s really unnerving,” said Alicia Bissonnette, a 19-year-old freshman.
Campus security learned about the sexual assaults after a student told them about the incidents, which involved people she knew, said Kristen Keener, a spokeswoman of the school.
No victims have come forward, but the school has identified three suspects — two students and one former student, Kenner said. The suspects’ names have not been released.
College President Sanford Ungar sent an e-mail to students to alert them of the allegations.
“I’m sorry to have to send this e-mail at this time of the year,” Ungar wrote, “but an issue of concern has arisen: Three very serious allegations of non-stranger sexual assault have recently come to attention of the Office of Public Safety.”
Date-rape drugs are suspected to have been used in all three alleged assaults, and the victims knew their attackers, according to Ungar’s e-mail.
Women who are college-age and younger are the most vulnerable to sexual assault, and 90 percent of attacks involve alcohol, drugs or someone the victim knows, said Linda Kelly, program manager of the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination program at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.
“Sometimes our only defense is that little gut feeling that makes the hair stand up on our neck,” Kelly said. “And sometimes, if you use alcohol, that takes away our last defense.”
She praised Ungar for alerting students about the allegations and allowing them to better prepare themselves.
The robbery took place near 6 p.m. Friday at Goucher’s Lewis Hall, where three men knocked on a door at the dorm before forcing their way inside and implying that they had a gun, according to police.
The suspects stole a cell phone and wallet from one victim and fled in a white Cadillac, police said.
Witnesses and security, however, identified the vehicle and driver, and police obtained a warrant for the car’s owner, police said.
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