Marquette failed to properly report rape allegations to police over last 10 years

Virginia ran across this in the Chicago Tribune:

MILWAUKEE — On a chilly Sunday morning, a 19-year-old Marquette University student walked into the campus security office and tearfully reported being raped by an athlete just hours earlier.

She says two of the officers on duty that February day dismissed her claim, telling her they didn't know whether it was a crime because she alleged the encounter began as consensual sex and ended as an assault.

No report was taken, and Milwaukee police were not notified by the university, which insists the woman said she did not want authorities involved.

The university now acknowledges that failing to notify police was a violation of state law, which requires campus security departments to report any possible crimes to local authorities. School officials also did not tell police about a sexual attack allegation involving four athletes in October.

In fact, Marquette administrators told the Tribune that they have violated their reporting obligations for the past 10 years. And in at least the two most recent cases, the lapse played a role in prosecutors declining to press charges.

continue at ChicagoTrib

and an update in MJS:

Marquette University officials acknowledged Wednesday that the university made mistakes in how it handled student reports of sexual assaults and said they've worked out a way to improve how they report sexual assaults to city police.

Previously, officials with Marquette's public safety department left it up to the student who reported a sexual assault whether to report that assault to the Milwaukee Police Department. But that was against Wisconsin law, which mandates that a private security firm that believes a crime has been committed has to promptly notify police. Now students will be told the incident will be reported, but they have a choice of whether to talk to police.

Marquette University President Father Robert A. Wild stressed that the student athlete-involved incidents reported to the university's Department of Public Safety in the fall and spring were investigated by the university and action was taken in accordance with the student conduct code. He said Milwaukee law enforcement officials filed no charges, but the university could have done better.