According to news sources, an alleged rape was reported Oct. 24 at Cowley College. The report claimed the incident took place on Oct. 19 in the Kirke W. Dale dormitory.

With the investigation on its way to a conclusion, Cowley students were left in the dark. Many students said they had had not heard about the incident by Thursday afternoon and some said they felt unsafe.

It has been almost two years since the loss of Jodi Sanderholm, the Arkansas City High School graduate and Cowley student who went missing January 6, 2007. She was found dead six days later.

Sanderholm was a shining student in high school and college alike, proving to be a hard worker with a soft heart.

Sanderholm’s passing created a drive in the community to introduce Jodi’s Law. This anti-stalking legislation changed the rhetoric in old laws to “credible threat” being more defined.

At the time of the incident some community members criticized Cowley security and Arkansas City Police for not working together by communicating stalking information and threats in order to prevent this tragic loss.

Word of the response to the recent allegation has sparked a connection in people’s minds to Sanderholm.

Could this potentially become yet another issue for Cowley?

Initially, Cowley seemed to gloss over this alleged attack and students were left unaware. Many of the students on campus didn’t even know that the incident was reported. This is the first place Cowley tripped up.

Instead of veiling the issue and leaving students out of the loop, the college should have been addressing concerns and dealling with the rumors. Instead, they left students to gather their own information.

When a situation like this arises on campus, students should be required to attend a meeting. This meeting could be as simple as 30 minutes, discussing what has been said and what will be done, mainly how to prevent such situations.

This is going to be difficult to answer because Cowley has issued no clear direction or paradigm on how they will recover from this incident.

The scary part of all this is less about the allegation, safety on the campus and the dorms but rather Cowley’s initial response or lack thereof. Simply disappearing into the background and not adequately addressing the issue endangers students.

If students are not knowledgeable of events, it is the college’s job to keep them informed. Allowing students to figure out the facts leaves the student body in a very vulnerable position.

Yes, the students can find out on their own from other Cowley County media sources, but they cannot figure out Cowley’s next step.

All the dorms held a mandatory meeting on Nov. 3, the meeting in Kimmel lasted ten minutes at best.

In the short period of time all the residents were gathered together the dorm manager went over that dorm checks will be on Wednesday and briefly mentioned the rape accusation so be careful!

A statement was read aloud to the attendees, but initially it was not released because “It’s not something we (Cowley) want everyone to know,” said Landon West, director of housing.

After a few phone calls, Sue Saia, vice president of student affairs, gave the okay to share the information, which is presented at the right.

This information should have been available to every student without late-night phone calls to authority figures of Cowley administration. Cowley should have an open-door policy when a situation like rape happens on campus.

Instead of digging to find the truth, Cowley should be in the student body’s face explaining the situation and how it will be handled.

Another slipup, in my opinion, is that if there is an assailant on campus, there should be open meetings, not just dorm meeting to talk about the dangers of rape, assault and other personal crimes.

An assailant that is a student would not be only in their dorm, but in The Jungle, the cafeteria, the hallways, classrooms.

A series of non-recorded student groups and authority figures should go over the dangers of not following the set policies, how to tell if a situation may occur, how to escape a situation and how to properly report an incident.

Cowley could not only recover from this public relations nightmare, but triumph over it, if they take the precautions of warning every student on campus, having the campus security’s number posted in various places on campus and having straight talk about personal crimes like theft, assault and rape.

Notice read at dorm meeting on Nov. 3

The Arkansas City Police Department informed the college on Friday afternoon that a current Cowley student was arrested in a rape allegation.

It is college practice not to comment on this particular situation, both to protect the privacy of the students involved as well as not to interfere in an ongoing investigation by the police.

Our main concern at Cowley is the safety and well-being of our students. All reports indicate that this is a situation involving two individuals who knew each other and who both willing violated visitor rules.

We believe that our dorms are safe and secure; however, your personal safety is still based upon you following dorm policy. To avoid being involved in situations such as these, we ask that you continue to follow dorm rules and regulations.

Remember, we have campus security available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please feel free to contact them if you have any security concerns at (620) 442-5599.

Also, if you are struggling with any issues (either academic or personal), I would encourage you to see Roy Reynolds, our Student Life Counselor.

He is available to you, free of charge, and is an excellent resource for students who are encountering a difficult time. Roy is located in the Nelson Student Center.

This notice was written by Sue Saia, vice president of student affairs, addressing students that live in the dormotories. All Cowley dorm residents should take careful note of the dorm policies and if you have any questions about any rules, speak with your Resident Advisor. Also, all Cowley students should enter campus security’s number into his or her personal cellular phone for access at all times.