A fiend sexually assaulted someone in a John Jay College of Criminal Justice restroom earlier this month, the school informed students Friday.
The attack happened sometime during the week of Sept. 2 in a “restroom on college campus,” according to an email from the college titled “Clery Crime Alert/Timely Warning.”
“Crime alerts are posted in an effort to make John Jay College aware of any situation that poses a potential threat to the safety and well-being of those who live, work, attend and visit the campus,” the email states.
But the alert, required on campuses by the federal Clery Act, offered almost no specifics about the alleged crime, and didn’t say if the victim was male or female, or exactly when it happened.
The act requires colleges to alert students to certain crimes.
The school’s fall semester started on Aug. 28.
A John Jay representative said the school is “actively investigating” the alleged incident.
“While we cannot comment on current investigations, the safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority, and we are committed to creating a safe campus environment for all members of our community,” they continued.
“Counseling and support services are available to students, faculty and staff affected by this incident.”
The NYPD apparently wasn’t notified about the incident, a police spokesman told The Post.
Several students on campus Saturday were caught off guard by the alert as well as how long it took for the college to release it, they said.
“It is pretty crazy that that happened here, especially since this is a criminal justice school,” said Jaylen Hernandez, a 19-year-old sophomore.
“It’s crazy too that I feel like they focus so much on, for example, when an alumni dies,” Hernandez said. “When an alumni dies, I get notifications on my phone from the school every time…and I’m like, [the sexual assault] happens and we didn’t know about it.”
A 22-year-old student, who got her undergraduate degree at Penn State, and just started working on her masters in forensics psychology at John Jay was disturbed by the attack.
“I was shocked to see the email and see that that happened here — at a criminal justice college of all places — but I feel like sexual assault can happen anywhere unfortunately,” she said.
She called the college’s warning this week “a delayed response.”
“I know at my undergrad they would send the notice out right away,” she said.
“So when I saw it was from the first week of school I was like, ‘why are we just hearing about it now?'”
Other students took the alert in stride.
“We wish that didn’t happen, but it’s New York,” said Arnold, a 17-year-old freshman, who asked to remain anonymous.
“I hope the school fixes this problem and any others like it so that this doesn’t happen again,” he said. “That’s kind of terrifying.”
The freshman said he hadn’t seen the notice displayed anywhere on campus.
Heidy Velasquez, a 19-year-old sophomore, said faculty in her program held a mandatory meeting after the notification went out Friday and told students to come forward if they are victimized.
“‘If you ever have something happen to you, something inappropriate or that’s not consensual, you can come to us,” she said the faculty members said.
She was pleased the school was informing students about reporting sexual assaults but frustrated the notice came a week after the alleged attack.
“It’s frustrating,” she said, “because for a school this prestigious, they should say something immediately.”
