Three women, including one Tufts student, have been sexually assaulted on the outskirts of Tufts' campus in the past two weeks. Two of the assaults occurred this weekend.
On Friday at around 10:25 p.m., a 24-year-old woman walking up Medford's Winthrop Street from a bus stop on Boston Avenue was grabbed by a man with a knife.
The woman was allegedly threatened, forced into a driveway where she was sexually assaulted, and then taken to a small red SUV and assaulted a second time. Afterwards, the perpetrator drove her around and finally left her on the street approximately a quarter of a mile from where she was first attacked, according to The Boston Herald.
A second incident occurred the next night, on April 21. According to TUPD Captain Mark Keith, the assaulter approached the victim, groped her from behind and then fled. This took place on North Street in Somerville.
Neither of this weekend's victims were Tufts students.
But Keith said that Saturday's assault seems "very similar in nature" to one that occurred on April 10 at around 9:45 p.m., when a female Tufts student was grabbed from behind while passing through an area of Medford's Winthrop Street that is near Capen Street. As with the other case, the perpetrator then fled after the scene.
Keith said these two events differ from the one on Friday night, during which the perpetrator "was much more aggressive and showed a weapon."
Although he could not say if any of the events were related, he said that the Medford and Somerville police departments are responsible for looking into this possibility and will be examining it during their investigations. Neither department could be reached by press time for comments about their investigations or whether or not they have any suspects. TUPD learned of Friday's assault after the Medford Police Department alerted the office on Friday night. In response, TUPD posted around 100 security alerts on campus on Saturday alerting students to the assault.
A more comprehensive alert containing information about all three assaults was sent to all Tufts students in an e-mail yesterday.
Keith admitted, however, that although the assaults occurred over the weekend when many officers were out of the office, the e-mail could have been sent earlier. "In retrospect it should have gone out sooner," he said. "We're looking to correct that ... The sooner that people have the information, the better off they are."
In light of the three recent assaults, TUPD will be taking measures to increase safety on campus.
Keith said that in the immediate future, and likely for the rest of the semester, there will be more officers on patrol between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m.
TUPD is also encouraging students to be proactive in ensuring their own safety. "In our safety alerts we're encouraging people to call for escorts - that they should not walk alone if possible - and to report any suspicious individuals or circumstances to us or to the local [police department]," Keith said.
Tufts students have been surprised and concerned about the recent assaults.
Sophomore Danielle Pfaff, who will be living on Emery Street, which is near Capen Street, next year, was particularly shocked that some of the incidents happened relatively early at night.
"People are walking around, there's lights, and there's this false sense of security - you feel like if something bad were to happen to you, someone would notice or be able to help," she said.
For senior Corrine Mahoney, who currently lives at 37 Winthrop Street, Friday's incident hit particularly close to home. "It definitely feels less safe [now]," she said.
To help students cope with the events and to provide them with information about how to respond to assaults, the Tufts Feminist Alliance (TFA) and the Campus Violence Prevention Project will host a discussion at the Women's Center at 6 p.m. this evening.
April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Sophomore and TFA Co-Chair Liz Fusco said that the assaults are a reminder that being on a college campus does not mean that safety is a given. "We can't say that [assaults] don't happen here," she said.
-Jenna Nissan contributed reporting to this article.
