Trigger warning: sexual assault
Local law enforcement is investigating a sexual assault that took place on Allegheny’s campus last month.
The assault took place at around 9:45 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, according to the Office of Public Safety’s Daily Crime and Fire Log. The following afternoon, students were notified of the incident via a short email which only said the attack had happened the previous night and that an investigation was ongoing.
“The college is going to be as transparent as possible without revealing any investigative information that would hinder the case, and in regards to maintaining the confidentiality and the privacy of the student,” said Director of Public Safety Jim Basinger. “We’re protecting the rights of the student and their privacy. We want to give as much information as we can and that will eventually come out, but it has to be at the right time.”
Basinger said that the crime was initially reported in a 911 call and that Public Safety responded after hearing the call over the local police scanner.
“We came out and cleared the area,” Basinger said. “We looked for everything and then we had to talk with the student to determine more information.”
He added that the Meadville City Police Department has taken over the investigation pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the college and the MPD.
In a phone call Monday afternoon MPD Chief Michael Stefanucci said the assault took place in a residential building on campus, but declined to comment further.
“The investigation is ongoing and we are following up on leads,” Stefanucci said. “Everything takes time, and we’re working as quickly as possible to make sure we don’t miss anything.”
Stefanucci said he still believes the college to be a safe place and that the department had not changed their patrols in response to the case.

Any additional information will be released at the discretion of the MPD, likely when charges are filed or a suspect is arrested, Basinger said.
He encouraged students to contact investigators at (814) 724-6100 if they have any information about the attack.
For the rest of the campus community, Public Safety recommends students be aware of themselves and their surroundings.
“The person that commits the crime is the only one responsible, but we want to take steps to create a safer environment by not being distracted,” Basinger said.
In both the original Sept. 22 message and a follow-up email sent Thursday, Sept. 28, the college offered safety advice: avoid traveling alone at night, do not let strangers into buildings and know who to contact in an emergency. The college also reiterated support for survivors of sexual assault in the follow-up email.
“The only person responsible for sexual assault is the perpetrator,” the college’s email read in part. “We acknowledge the danger and damage that silence causes. It is necessary to break the silence that too often shrouds conversations of abuse and sexual violence.”
Students can also download the college’s “Omnilert” app to receive alerts from the college and report emergencies.
Both Public Safety and the college’s regular staff have stepped up patrols inside and outside of dormitories, as well as routine walkthroughs by resident advisors, according to Dean for Student Life Trae Yeckley.
“Our public safety office has decades of experience, and we have one of the best-trained public safety offices that I’ve worked with,” Yeckley said. “So, when we see them walking around, we see them here late at night on campus. I have the utmost faith and trust in our public safety.”
Last month’s attack comes just under four years after a 2019 assault in Ravine-Narvik Hall, after which the college updated its physical security infrastructure, including adding cameras and installing ID scanners on residential buildings, The Campus reported at the time.

Yearly report
Public Safety also released the annual Crime and Fire Safety on Saturday, Sept. 30. The report — required by the federal Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990 — states that there were six forcible sex offenses in 2022, down from 10 in 2021 and seven in 2020. There was one case of dating violence in both 2022 and 2021, down from three reports in 2020. There were three cases of stalking in 2022, compared to one in 2021 and four in 2020.
The largest increase was in disciplinary referrals for drug offenses, which jumped to 51 in 2022 from 31 in 2021 and 28 in 2020. The largest decrease was in disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations, which fell to just eight cases in 2022 from 33 in 2021 and 26 in 2020.