APD investigates sexual assault near UT campus
AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Texas at Austin Police have alerted students about a sexual assault that happened near campus.
The sexual assault reportedly happened at 2500 Pearl Street, the house of UT fraternity chapter Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Austin police received a call about the incident at around 2 a.m Sunday morning. The victim told police they were sexually assaulted at a party and went to the hospital shortly after.
According to UT’s 2019 Clery crime statistics report, there have been multiple sexual assaults reported off-campus over the past three years
UT has reported three in 2018, four in 2017 and one case of sexual assault was reported in 2016. The cases were classified as rape that occurred at non-campus buildings and property.
Piper Nelson with SAFE Alliance said a lot of sexual assault cases are under-reported. "It's extremely hard, one of the most difficult things for a sexual assault survivor to do is to come forward and tell their story," Nelson said.
SAFE Alliance is a non-profit that serves over 600 survivors of sexual assault a year.
Nelson said many survivors fear they won't be believed or don't know they were assaulted. She also believes they don't want their assaulter to get into any trouble. "Because of all of the fears that survivors face when deciding whether or not to come forward with their story and report what happened to them many people do make the decision not to come forward and not to report that they were sexually assaulted," said Nelson.
SAFE Alliance offers shelter, housing, face to face support, prevention, education, and advocacy for sexual assault survivors.
“We encourage anyone who has experienced sexual assault or think that they have experienced sexual assault or anyone who has a friend or a colleague who they think has experienced sexual assault to call our SAFE line and just talk it through, we are here to offer you advice we are here to help you figure out what the next steps will be,” Nelson said.
The SAFE Alliance operates a 24-hour confidential hotline for people seeking help with sexual or domestic violence, child abuse, or human trafficking available by phone at 512.267.SAFE (7233), by text at 737.888.7233 or by chat here.