OXFORD — Unsavory incidents at Miami University — ranging from an off-campus brawl and stabbings to six reported sexual assaults — has raised alarm on this pastoral college campus in northwestern Butler County.

        College officials and students agree the incidents are cause for concern. But they are convinced the crimes reflect isolated occurrences, most of them common to all college campuses. That they happened in quick succession was simply chance, the officials contend.

        The incidents, however, are drawing attention to this pristine campus of red brick and ivy.

        • On March 24, two freshmen were stabbed while trying to break up an early morning fight. One of the victims was hospitalized overnight with a chest wound. The incident remains under investigation.

        • Since Jan 1, six women have reported sexual assaults on campus. All knew their assailants and all but one refused to press charges, Miami University police said. Oxford Police have had two similar incidents during the school year. One reached the Butler County grand jury, where charges were ignored.

"No wall around us'
        Dick Nault, Miami's dean of students, said that while many consider universities idyllic places, they are not immune to changing society. With a more complex and violent society today, universities — not just Miami — can expect to experience some of that change.

        “There is no wall around us,” he said.

        The stabbing incident, and weekend fights in uptown Oxford bars, have raised the eyebrows of law enforcement and school officials.

        “Over the last four or five years there has been an increase — not so much in the number of fights — but in the brutality of them,” said Oxford Police Detective Sgt. John Buchholz. The fights appear focused in and around the downtown area on weekends.

        The detective sergeant said his department and Miami University Police have increased patrols and visibility on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

A place to party
        Police are conducting a study to determine how many visitors come into Oxford from Hamilton, Cincinnati, Dayton or Richmond, Ind., to visit bars.

        “It's not unusual to arrest out-of-town high school students in these assaults,” Detective Sgt. Buchholz said. “Alcohol is involved ... It's a place to come to party.”

        Todd Ryan, 21, a junior from Akron, works at an uptown restaurant and bar.

        “I'd say, on average, there's a fight at least once or twice a month someplace in town. They are not major — too much alcohol; it's crowded, people bumping into each other. That triggers it. A month or so ago, a bouncer had his nose broken when he took away a fake ID.”

        Meanwhile, the six reported sexual assaults seem perplexing for some at Miami.

        Andrew Powers, patrol commander of the university police, said six reports of sexual assaults during one school year is not unusual. What is unusual, he said, is that they all have occurred since Jan. 1.

        “I really do not know what caused the rash of them,” he said, pointing out all of the assaults occurred between acquaintances.

        “You need to draw a distinction between acquaintance assaults and stranger assaults,” Mr. Powers said. “In the case of a stranger lurking in bushes, there is more police can do - increased patrol, lighting. But these assaults are occurring in residential space. We don't patrol residential space; and the last time I checked most people did not want us to.”

        Detective Sgt. Buchholz estimated in an average year 10 to 12 sexual assaults are reported to the two police departments. There have been years with 15 or more.

        A recently released U.S. Justice Department study estimates that 350 sexual assaults occur each year on college campuses where 10,000 or more women are enrolled. There are about 8,800 women and 7,200 men at Miami.

        “When you apply those statistics to our campus, with (8,800) women you're talking a couple hundred at least, so the six that got reported shows what an under-reported occurrence this is,” Mr. Powers said.

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