An individual was arrested in December 2023 on burglary and sexual misconduct charges related to an October 2022 break-in and sexual assault in Leonard Hall, according to a Jan. 19 email from President Sylvia Burwell and Chief Financial Officer Bronté Burleigh-Jones.
The individual was previously removed from campus after being identified as a person of interest in the case and has now been “prohibited permanently from being part of the AU community in any way,” according to the email.
Burwell and Burleigh-Jones also reiterated commitments to improving sexual assault education on campus, highlighting work on a survivor’s bill of rights passed by the Undergraduate Senate in March 2023. The administration will continue to work on implementing a survivor’s bill of rights.
The arrest comes after widespread outcry from students over how the University handles cases of campus sexual violence. Following the break-in, the University launched a Community Working Group on Preventing and Responding to Sexual Harassment and Violence to address student concerns, however, the final working group report has not yet been published.
Burwell and Burleigh-Jones also noted that the University will continue to investigate antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents on campus last semester.
“I also want to make sure our community knows that we are aggressively moving forward with the FBI on the investigations of campus incidents from last fall,” the email said. “All of this important work supports and advances a safe and welcoming AU community that is our shared priority.”
This article was edited by Samantha Skolnick, Abigail Turner and Abigail Pritchard. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
