CSUMB responds to three sexual assault complaints through administrative process, not police.

As about 80 CSU Monterey Bay students and staff members flowed into the World Theater Oct. 16 for a campus forum, some stopped to peruse information tables, including one featuring a pile of bright green information cards. Emblazoned in bold black writing, the cards said, “See something? Say something!”

The campus has been on edge for four weeks, after two alleged on-campus rapes and one case of stalking were reported to CSUMB administrators, which prompted them to issue what are known as “timely warnings,” the university’s legal version of “See something? Say something!” Mandated under the federal Clery Act, as well as under an executive order from the California State University Chancellor’s Office, timely warnings are issued when administrators believe a suspected student presents an ongoing danger to the campus community. (The Clery Act is named for Jeanne Clery, a Pennsylvania college student killed in her dorm room in 1986.)

On Oct. 5, administrators took the step of identifying a male student suspected of allegedly raping one female student on Sept. 18 and stalking another from Sept. 2-15. The first timely warning they issued on Sept. 22 following the alleged rape, with only a physical description. But officials said at the forum that based on the subsequent stalking complaint, they made the call – after consulting legal counsel and Clery Act experts – to name the suspect and include his student ID photo on a flyer that was sent out to all students and staff, and posted around campus. The flyer encourages people who see him on campus to make a report immediately to CSUMB Police. (The Weekly is not naming him because he is not a suspect in a criminal case.)

The warnings created confusion among students about the complex process of investigating campus sexual assaults, says Michelle Vazquez, a CSUMB Associated Students senator. That confusion, and concern over another reported rape on Oct. 8 – unrelated to the two other alleged offenses – prompted administrators to hold the Oct. 16 forum.

One student asked in a written question why the police are not getting involved if they know who the perpetrator is. It highlights the confusion over the complexities of Title IX, designed to protect the educational rights of students. Wendy Smith, CSUMB’s Title IX coordinator, explained that under the federal law, administrators can educate victims about their options: reporting to the Title IX office for an administrative investigation, or reporting to law enforcement for a criminal investigation, or both.

Ultimately, it is the reporting student’s choice, and neither choice is wrong, Smith said. A student under administrative investigation could be cleared, suspended or expelled. Law enforcement – either campus police or another local department – can do nothing unless the reporting student files a complaint with them.

CSUMB Police Chief Earl Lawson said he’d prefer students report to police, but in the end he wants students to get services they need.

“What helps me to get to sleep at night is the thought that if the only option people had was to go to the police, a lot of these incidents might not get reported and we might not be able to support our students,” he said.

Smith says she cannot give out any details about ongoing investigations. “We don’t want you to think that because we’re not standing here telling you everything that nothing is occurring,” she said at the forum. “There is quite a bit of work going on in the background.”

In the meantime, in Monterey County Superior Court, former CSUMB student Ruben Matthew Rodriguez is awaiting trial for an alleged sexual assault that occurred in a dorm room on May 18, 2016, the last day of the semester. Rodriguez faces seven felony charges that include assault, sexual penetration by a foreign object, sexual battery by restraint, and first-degree burglary.

Rodriguez reportedly removed a screen and climbed in the victim’s first-floor window and assaulted her. He’s been in custody in the Monterey County Jail on $1.25 million bail since January.