A number of recent assaults on campus, including an incident in Henle Village over spring break, have caused the University’s public safety officials to take steps to improve security.
“We have to make sure this cycle is stopped,” said Vice President for University Safety Dave Morrell.
The University is focusing on weekends. More DPS officers will be making the rounds on Friday and Saturday nights. University administrators including Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson will walk around campus.
“[This weekend] is obviously active with the basketball team and St. Patrick’s Day,” Morrell said.
University safety officials are beefing up security in response to the recent violent skirmishes. Around 1:26 a.m. on Sunday, March 4, when most students were on spring break, Department of Public Safety officers arrived at Henle Village to see many people escaping the scene of an assault, according to a DPS report. The officers were able to apprehend three victims who made statements at DPS headquarters. None suffered serious injuries.
The victims said that one of the assailants made reference to taking out his “.38,” a kind of handgun. A DPS e-mail message said that these victims described the assailants as three black males, ages 18 to 24.
Later that morning, a Georgetown Medical student called the Metropolitan Police Department, telling them that he was attacked by six to seven males near the intersection of 37th and Reservoir Streets.
On February 25, an attacker hit two non-Georgetown students with a brick near the Reiss science building, the Hoya reported. Both visitors went to the hospital, Morrell said.
MPD has taken the lead on these recent events, which are a reminder of a much more serious incident from last September, when visitors were involved in a brawl in front of the Reiss Science building.
Reiss appears to be a corridor for violent incidents, said Morrell. This is troubling not only for the safety of students, but also for faculty and graduate students, some of whom work on experiments late at night, Morell added.
