Officials with Western University are urging students to be cautious after two women reported being inappropriately touched on the campus’ University College Hill (UC Hill).
A release from the university says two women were reportedly touched inappropriately outside the fenced-in concert venue on UC Hill late Friday night.
The venue was set up for last week’s Orientation Week, which made for a busy campus on the first days back from summer vacation.
One second year student, who wished to remain anonymous was at the concert and said it’s very upsetting.
“It does make me feel unsafe. You know Western is our home, Western is our school, we go here and we live here and it makes me feel unsafe, especially as a woman because you never know what’s going to happen and that’s very terrible,” she said.
According to the Canadian Federation of Students one in five women arriving on a Canadian university or college campus will experience sexual violence while studying at a post-secondary institution.
The incident was first reported to campus police, and Western University says its investigation has since been turned over to London police.
Dan Redmond Director of Campus Police said students were informed about the incident via social media but emails are not sent out in cases like this.
“Western is a very safe campus and we have a safe campus because of a lot of factors. We have special constables that work on our campus police force, patrolling 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
He added this is the first time something like this has happened at Western in the last three years.
The university adds that campus police have increased patrols in response to the reported incident.
Students are also being asked to walk in groups when travelling to and from campus.
The university is reminding students of its support systems in place, encouraging them to visit Western’s health and wellness website if help is needed.