Lawrence Police are seeking two men believed to have raped an 18-year-old woman at a weekend party.

The woman told police Sunday evening that the men raped her about 3:30 a.m. during a small party at a private residence in western Lawrence, Sgt. Mike Pattrick said.

The allegation was made public Tuesday, a day after the Kansas University Public Safety Office revealed that an 18-year-old female KU student had reported being raped early Saturday in her Oliver Hall dorm room.

Neither woman knew her attacker(s), but police are working with descriptions to try to identify suspects.

Pattrick could only characterize the off-campus suspects as white males. He would not say whether the alleged victim was a KU student.

Worried students, parents

In the meantime, some residents at Oliver Hall, the residence hall at 1815 Naismith Drive, are on edge.

“I don’t want to stay in my room by myself anymore,” said Amanda Moody, Olathe freshman. “My parents are so worried. They call me all the time now.”

Public safety office crime alerts with a computer-generated composite of the suspect are posted throughout the dorm.

“Now, every guy you see, you look at to see if it’s him,” she said.

KU Police Lt. Schuyler Bailey said Tuesday that investigators had not yet identified a suspect, whom the alleged victim described as a 5-foot, 9-inch white male with a muscular upper body and red-tinted brown hair in a buzz cut. He apparently entered the woman’s room through her unlocked door, Bailey said.

Bailey said he had taken several calls from concerned students and parents.

“They just want to know what they can do to protect themselves,” Bailey said. “We talk about ways of being more aware and taking proactive steps in their safety.”

This was the first rape reported on campus since 2000, when public safety office records show four such reports were made. One rape each year was reported in 1999 and 1998. KU police took seven rape reports in 1997.

Between January and the end of March this year, the most recent period for which data is available, Lawrence Police statistics show that officers took 10 rape reports. The annual numbers have fluctuated for the past several years with 42 in 2001, 32 in 2000 and 42 in 1999.

Security issues

People are free to come and go at Oliver, like other residence halls, until 11 p.m. Then, all doors but one are locked, residents must show their student IDs to get inside, and guests must be checked in and escorted by a resident at all times, said Diana Robertson, associate director of student housing.

She said the alleged rape raised concern about security issues in the hall and that hall staff conducted floor meetings Monday evening to remind residents of ways to protect themselves. Those tips included escorting guests, not signing in people you don’t know, keeping doors locked and reporting suspicious activity.

For the alleged rape victims, reporting the crimes so quickly may end up helping if the cases ever get to court, said Sarah Jane Russell, executive director of Rape Victim-Survivor Services.

“It is absolutely a woman’s decision to make how soon after an assault one reports,” she said. “The other side is, if you make a choice to report sooner, then we have stronger evidence. If the case is going to make it on through trial, then the strength of the evidence is very important.”

Though victims can not prevent rape altogether, there are a few ways to minimize risk. Literature from Rape Victim-Survivor Service urges people to know their sexual desires and limits and exercise the right to set those limits; communicate limits clearly; pay attention to surroundings; if possible, avoid situations that may put you at more risk; and trust your intuition.

Russell said she hoped the women who reported these crimes would seek support services. Oliver Hall resident Moody said the woman who lived in her dorm had moved out.

“When something like this happens, and you are a stranger in a strange city, it’s difficult to know where the support system lies,” Russell said. “Going home or going to a safe place where you know you are safe is our first instinct. Our hope is that if someone makes that choice to leave that they get therapeutic support or some kind of advocacy support wherever they go.”