In the first report of criminal sexual assault at Dartmouth in just under a year, a female student disclosed to the Hanover Police Department Saturday evening that she was attacked by a college-aged male around 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning in the basement of The Tabard coed fraternity.
Fliers from Safety and Security and the Hanover Police littered the campus on Sunday asking for students to come forward with information regarding the attacks.
Both the fliers and a press release from Hanover Police described the suspect as a college-aged "white male, possibly of Mid-Eastern descent, English speaking, with short dark hair, facial hair, a medium build and wearing jeans and a shirt."
Despite the assailant's described age, Dean of the College James Larimore said he has obtained "undisclosable" information from the Hanover Police that leads him to believe that the assailant was not a Dartmouth student.
Hanover Police declined to offer any details on the case beyond their initial release.
Hanover Police Detective Eric Bates sent an email to the presidents of campus Greek organizations asking them to hold meetings with their members to determine who was at the Tabard party Friday night, and to create a list of potential suspects, "which might include house members, visitors and other acquaintances."
According to Maxfield, this is not the first time that a sexual assault has occurred in The Tabard. Maxfield was not specific but said that the house "has had to deal with this on several occasions before."
When asked how this was affecting the morale in The Tabard, Maxfield said, "It has renewed our commitment to sexual assault awareness and increased the drive to make our program better."
Early in the evening, the International Student Association had hosted a party in The Tabard called Global Jam. According to Tabard President Cena Maxfield, however, it was not a Tabard-sponsored event. Tabard had lent the space to the International Student Association.
According to Larimore, the victim has been receiving counseling from various College support systems.