Police investigate reported hate crime against UI student

The Iowa City Police Department is investigating a reported racially motivated attack on a black University of Iowa student, an incident that has sparked outcry over the university's failure to inform the campus about it for two days.

UI officials acknowledge they could have handled the situation better when UI freshman Marcus Owens of Naperville, Ill., came to the campus police station Monday evening to report the Saturday night assault. He was directed to the city's police department without being fully questioned, and the university did not issue a campuswide crime alert until Wednesday, when the story gained attention.

No arrests have been made in the attack, and the university's response disappointed some black students.

The incident first came to light Tuesday night, when Chicago's WLS-TV reported that Owens was attacked between 10 and 11 p.m. Saturday by three white men who were shouting racial slurs. The assault was in the alleyway of the 200 block of Iowa Avenue. According to the report, Owens required nearly a dozen stitches to his lip, had a damaged eye socket and had his front teeth knocked out. He was released from the hospital Monday night.

Owens reported the attack to UI police Monday night and was sent to Iowa City police because it occurred off-campus. Owens told the TV station that he was texting a friend when three white men yelled the n-word and began punching him.

Iowa City police said in a statement Wednesday that the assault is being investigated as a hate crime.

"What we know now is that the Iowa City police are actively investigating the case, and UI police are cooperating in that investigation,” said Tom Rocklin, university vice president for student life.

Meanwhile, UI officials are reevaluating communication protocols among university police and other local law enforcement agencies after students took to social media to criticize their response.

"It’s alarming to me,” said Andrew Turner, a UI junior who serves on the Black Student Advisory Community. “I know that if a robbery happens near campus, the Iowa City and university police departments are able to work together in those situations” to issue an alert.

UI administrators initially said they were unaware of the attack until contacted Tuesday afternoon by the TV station and did not have details to share. UI community members criticized the university on Twitter, using the hashtag #explainIowa to ask repeated questions about why they had to learn from an out-of-state news source that a possible hate crime had taken place near campus.

UI police eventually sent a campuswide crime alert on Wednesday morning, but that did not quell the frustration.

UI officials admitted Wednesday that the delay, at least in part, was because  university police did not ask more questions Monday before sending Owens to Iowa City police. They were unaware Owens reported being beaten by three men, one of whom he believes may have been a student, or that he sought medical attention afterward at UI Hospitals and Clinics.

UI officials acknowledged that stopping Owens from providing information kept UI police from immediately recognizing that the crime — although occurring off-campus — still represented a threat to the safety of students or employees.

"This (process) was intended to prevent the victim from having to share his story multiple times," reads a statement issued Wednesday afternoon by the UI Office of the President. "However, we now recognize this as a failure in current UI protocol and will be working with many campus and community partners, including ICPD, to improve reporting mechanisms for the future."

The federal Jeanne Clery Act requires public universities to quickly share information about crimes on or near campus that present a danger to the campus community.

But UI officials said they couldn't have known at the time Owens' attack would require notification, and no protocols are in place for Iowa City police to notify UI police when an incident is under investigation — even one involving UI students — that may warrant a campuswide notification.

Lucy Weiderholt, UI's interim director of public safety, said it would have been unusual for Iowa City police to contact the university after they took a report.

UI officials also said that because the Saturday incident wasn’t reported until Monday, it didn’t fit the criteria for a Hawk Alert, which is used more for situations like a tornado or an active shooter on campus. The university sends out its Hawk Alerts via mobile phone, home phone, office phone and e-mail when there is an immediate threat on campus.

“I believe that Iowa City acted very quickly and developed some leads and suspects to the point where a Hawk Alert would have been inappropriate,” Weiderholt said.

Some students and groups, including people at a public strategic planning forum on Wednesday, described the university's response as an example of the administration's failings.

"This is not a first-time incident,” Turner said. “This is just a tipping point in a long line of racially motivated incidents that the university seems to be silent on and negligent about.”

Rocklin said the main goal for UI administrators on Wednesday was to focus on Owens and to figure out what accommodations and support the business major would need during the final weeks of the semester. Owens and some of his family members met Wednesday with staff members from the UI Dean of Students Office and — at Owens' request — UI President Bruce Harreld.

"I do know that the plan was to help Marcus identify his needs and the resources to meet those needs,” Rocklin said.

Reach Jeff Charis-Carlson at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435. Follow him on Twitter at @jeffcharis.