A mass e-mail was sent out to students and staff members after a student reported that she had been raped Wednesday night, Oct. 29 in Galloway Hall. After an investigation was conducted, she finally admitted to fabricating the entire event on Monday morning, Nov. 3.

Although occurrences of falsified rape accusations tend to be few and far between according to Amy Feath, Director of the Rape Crisis Center in Wilmington, it is still a highly sensitive and detrimental issue, especially at UNCW.

The female student, whose name cannot be released in order to protect her privacy, relayed her story to the University Police on Thursday.

“Around 11:30 p.m. when she entered [her dorm room], there was a guy she knew inside who pulled a knife on her and forced her to cooperate,” Chief of Police David Donaldson said. “We launched two parallel investigations: one into the crime and one behind the scenes where we did an audit of keys [in Galloway] and checked video systems and visitation logs.”

All of these measures came back normal, showing no trace of the alleged perpetrator.

The night of Oct. 30, investigators collected evidence from her room and she was sent to the Emergency Room where a medical rape kit was administered.

“It may show any number of things like physical or vaginal trauma,” Donaldson said. “It’s also an opportunity to collect fibers and semen if present, test the victim’s blood, and take external and internal swabbings.”

The kit was not sent to the crime lab for analysis because the alleged perpetrator was known and the very next day, the case began to fall apart.

“Our job is to question what happened and how it happened,” Donaldson said. “We found that the chain of events that the victim reported was unreasonable. We recognized that what she had reported was unlikely because we have responsible desk receptionists, video cameras, active resident assistants patrolling and a secure keying system.”

He added, “However, we take reports very seriously and our staff worked until 4 a.m. that morning and were back the next day for further investigation.”

Officers interviewed people who lived near the victim as well as the alleged assaulter.

“He had a rock solid alibi,” Donaldson said. “And on Monday afternoon, the victim admitted to investigators that she had made the story up.”

“I don’t consider this case best to be referred to criminal court, but I haven’t dismissed the idea of charging her,” Donaldson said.

The young woman has been referred to the judicial system of UNCW where she will be able to access a myriad of services including counseling.

UNCW officers have not determined the motivation of the female student.

“From what I’ve seen and observed, I really feel like one of the primary motivators [to lie] is that the person is struggling with personal issues, whether it’s a physical or mental health disorder to where they’re acting in ways that aren’t predictable,” Feath said.

A similar case occurred in 2005 when a UNCW student was jogging between the SRC and gazebo when someone grabbed her and forced her to the ground. The assumption by the University Police was that the goal was a sexual assault, but the alleged perpetrator fled from the scene and the woman later reported that she had fabricated the story.

However, these occurrences are minimal. According to Feath, out of 100 percent of rape courses that are reported, 90 percent are investigated, but not enough corroborative evidence is gathered to continue the accusation process. Out of the remaining 10 percent, 3 percent are false allegations and 7 percent are composed of the victims who have an opportunity to see some justice in a court room of law and hold the perpetrator accountable for sexual violation.

“I’ve been doing this work for over 19 years and in that time frame I think I’ve only ever had one victim come back to me and say ‘I made it all up,’ and that’s out of hundreds of victims,” Feath said.

This year, between July and September, the Rape Crisis Center in Wilmington saw 61 new victims, 41 percent of those being between the ages of 18 and 25.

“We do frequently [see UNCW students],” Feath said. “It is sometimes easier to seek services off campus because the victim feels more comfortable.”

The recent event posed a few problems for UNCW, causing the issue to go beyond a simple lie. Donaldson has had to deal with many e-mails from concerned parents and students.

“People really seemed alarmed,” Donald said. “Parents responded with panic and accused us of downplaying the occurrence. But we only released the facts that had been reported [by the alleged victim] so as not to shed doubt on the accuracy of the case.”

During the event, all officers were dispatched to Galloway.

“We were exposing ourselves to things around other parts of campus because we were focused on that area,” Donaldson said.

Donaldson also worries that true victims will be discouraged from coming forward in the future. Feath added that the situation could impede true victims because they will be afraid the community won’t believe them.

While these problems arose over the past week, UNCW has developed measures over the previous years in order to prevent rape cases.

Feath said, “UNCW had a sexual assault response team before it was even a concept across the country. Whenever I was able to be a part of it, they were very organized and pro-active. They’re extremely dedicated and committed to making sure that any victim is treated with respect and compassion and given a vigorous investigation.”

“We have had 24-hour desk operations [in residence halls] all ten years I have been at UNCW,” Director of Housing and Residence Life Brad Reid said. “Appalachian is just contemplating going to 24-hour reception desks. In my conversations with my peers across the southeast, I am finding that UNCW is ahead of the majority of universities with our residence hall security enhancements.”

Residence hall desk receptionists check student IDs and require guests to sign in. Equipment and loan keys must be checked out.