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Police are investigating a rape that was reported on Monday, December 18, at the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity house on the Missouri State University campus.
According to Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman Springfield Police, the alleged assault occurred between 7:30 p.m. and 10:35 p.m. on Monday, December 18. Cox said that the incident was under investigation and that was all the information she could provide at that time
“It is currently under investigation, and that is all I can provide at this time,” she said.
Suzanne Shaw, the vice president for marketing and communications at the university, said the two people involved in the alleged incident were students and that a Title IX investigation has begun.
The victim is a female, while it was not immediately known if the male was a member of the fraternity.
Shaw said MSU officials connected the female student to the Title IX investigator and offered other services, including counseling.
As of Wednesday, it was not clear if the university would conduct is own investigation. If that happens and there is a preponderance of evidence the assault occurred, the male student could face a range of discipline including expulsion.
“Someone has to report a situation to Title IX to trigger an investigation, and that can be a complainant,” she said.
The university’s Alpha Kappa Lambda chapter was in the in June, when a judge sentenced a former fraternity member to a 75-day sentence for assaulting an ex-girlfriend inside the fraternity house.
If the claim is found to be accurate, it would be the second violent crime at that fraternity house since 2016.
