TU Students Demand Transparency After Crimes, Including Rape, Sexual Assault

Some students at the University of Tulsa are upset with the school and how it’s handled a string of crimes this year, including rape, sexual assault and sexual battery.

Friday, the university held a special forum on sexual assault; but several students, and one of the victim’s mothers, said they want more transparency.

A woman named Tami said her daughter woke up in the middle of the night on October 7th because a man got into her apartment and touched her.

Police say that man was Luis Molina, who is accused of raping one woman and touching several more.

10/27/2016 Related Story: 2 New Sexual Battery Charges Filed Against Former TU Student

"She was sound asleep. She thought it was a dream for a very long time," Tami said.

Tami said TU didn't give students enough warning about previous incidents throughout the year.

"I believe that my daughter would have had more insight to the events that happened prior she would have been more vigilant in preventing this student from coming into her bedroom that night," she said.

Campus police asked us to leave when we tried to attend a panel event discussing the issue.

"Well this is private property, if you keep refusing to leave we’ll contact Tulsa Police Department for trespassing and refusal to leave," a campus security officer said.

We met with Student Association Vice President Whitney Cipolla after the event.

"Students were upset, and I think one of the biggest things was transparency," she said.

Cipolla said the university did not inform students about any sexual assault this year, and, she said the warnings from the school were too vague.

"We get campus security alerts, so we were aware that there were break-ins at a certain apartment complex and various other locations, so I think it could have been a little more explicitly stated," she said.

As for Tami's daughter, she may not stay at TU.

"I fear for her safety for further events,” she said. “So we'll hopefully get through this semester."

Students say they're encouraged to contact campus police when they're facing trouble instead of Tulsa police because they are already on campus.

Cipolla, however, said she’s like to see the university encourage students to contact TPD.

"If a individual - they can be removed, suspended, expelled, but for criminal pursuits, TPD is kind of necessary," she said.

A representative of the university said victims of sexual assault are encouraged to report what happened to campus security or Tulsa police.

Everyone we spoke with who attended Friday's forum said there was no mention from university officials about calling 911.

A representative with TU said the sexual assault was not discovered until after Molina's arrest and was never reported to TU Campus Security.