Rice staff member assaulted

By Cindy Dinh     1/29/09 6:00pm

An investigation is in progress to find a man who assaulted a Rice staff member late Tuesday night. At approximately 10:57 p.m. a staff member in the Humanities Building radioed in a call for help after she found a man sleeping on a table in Room 327. When she asked him to leave, the man got up and ran toward the staff member where a struggle ensued. She used a university radio to call for help and escaped to the women's restroom. The man followed her in and physically assaulted her. However, he fled the scene after hearing feedback from the radio from those responding to her call. The staff member then locked herself in the bathroom stall before the Rice University Police Department and co-workers arrived, according to Captain Dianna Marshall. The suspect is described as a male, white, about 25-28 years of age, 5 feet 6-7 inches tall with light brown hair and eyes. He had three pre-existing red scratches on the right side of his face. At the time of the incident he was wearing a black jacket and black gloves.

RUPD has not located the man, Marshall said. It is unknown whether the worker was alone or working with others in the building, she said.

The doors to the Humanities Building are typically secured in the evenings at 7:30 p.m. every night via the electronic card reader where entry is permitted using university identification cards. However, the schedule was modified to accommodate evening classes on Tuesday, Marshall said. The doors remained open until 11 p.m.

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"We have people who frequently check buildings on campus," Marshall said. "We try to hit them as often and as frequent as possible."

The Rice Emergency Notification System which sends e-mails and text messages to the Rice community was not employed, Marshall said. The decision whether or not to use the system is determined by the Crisis Management Team, which is chaired by Vice President for Administration Kevin Kirby, who could not be reached for comment at the time of publication. However, Director of News and Media Relations B.J. Almond said RUPD spent several hours interviewing the victim, after which a crime alert email was sent to all departments.

As a result of the events, Facilities, Engineering and Planning has implemented a new "buddy system" for all staff.

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