Man who attack campus employee remains at large

Back on campus after a two-day break, Santa Rosa Junior College students slowly learned -- the low-tech way -- what happened there Tuesday morning.

"Crime Alert" fliers taped to aging wooden doors told of an SRJC employee who was sexually assaulted in her office Tuesday, as campus police began distributing copies of a sketch of the suspect, who was still at large.

Some students, part of the 35,000 students who attend courses that run from early morning to after 10 p.m., said they first heard about the attack through family members.

"I didn't know about it until my grandmother called me," 19-year-old sophomore Megan Brennen said as she sat with her friends outside the college's library Thursday morning.

"I thought the school had our e-mails," said Julia Rosenthal, 19, one of the friends.

Rosenthal said her mother, who works as a counselor at the college, was on campus at the time of the assault. She said the incident "makes me worry about my mom because she's here by herself in the evenings, while I'm usually with friends."

"They send us e-mails all the time. I don't understand why they don't have a system in place."

A cell-phone emergency alert system has been in the works for about a year and is on track to launch by the end of the year.

The notification system, known as AlertU, can instantly send emergency text messages to staff, faculty and students for such things as campus evacuations or "lock-downs," where students are told to stay where they are, in secure quarters if possible.

On Thursday morning, JC Police Chief Terry Stewart was briefed on the status of the alert system, even as police continued their investigation of the crime.

Police said the theater arts worker was in her Burbank Auditorium office around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday when someone knocked on her door. She answered and was attacked.

The victim, who reportedly was back at work Thursday, described her attacker as a short, stocky Latino man in his mid-20s to early 30s, wearing a sleeveless white T-shirt, dark pants and black gloves.

She fought with the man before she began to scream for help, a move that proved more effective and caused him to flee the scene, police said.

Police have not elaborated on the exact nature of the sexual assault.

Police said they have received many tips from people eager to help solve the case, "so we are following up on each and every one of them," Sgt. Don Silverek said.

But "right now there is not one specific person of interest because we're still in the position of sorting everything out in terms of which ones are the most credible," he said.

Some faculty members said they were unnerved by the attack, a rare occurrence on campus.

"Faculty and staff are very concerned about the security of the building," said James Newman, a theater arts instructor. "These are old buildings, and it's a public institution. It's a scary situation."

The fatal shooting of 33 students at Virginia Tech in 2007 led many campuses to re-evaluate security and how they communicate with students, staff and faculty in emergencies.

Nate Johnson, police chief for Sonoma State University, said campus police agencies must balance informing students without spreading undue fear. Johnson said SSU, like many other campuses, installed e-mail and text-message-based notification systems after the Virginia Tech incident.

SSU hasn't had to use the system, and for most incidents relies on bulletins and more traditional means of communication.

"Honestly, sometimes paper notices and having an officer standing in an area handing out notices are the best ways," Johnson said. "People shouldn't throw out old school. Old school works."

Some colleges, including the University of San Francisco and SSU, automatically enroll students, faculty and staff in e-mail and text-message alert systems. Other campuses let people sign up voluntarily.

"There are privacy issues that come up," said Bob Charbonneau, systemwide emergency management coordinator for the University of California.

Ken Arnold, Napa Valley College's police chief, said more than 150 people signed up for its text alerts during a campus emergency in April that stretched over six hours when campus police pursued two armed robbery suspects who ended up on school grounds. The suspects ultimately were caught there.

Arnold said about 1,600 of the 4,500 Napa Valley College students are signed up for the program, which is the same one that will be used at SRJC.

"Most of my students are very mobile, they seem to live or die on their phones," Arnold said. "If I'm after staff, e-mail works really well. If I'm after students, then I have to look for things that will deliver information to their phones."

Silverek, emergency management coordinator for SRJC, said 10 police and campus administrators will have special codes to generate messages.

Silverek said there will be up to four "pre-canned messages" for dealing with such things as campus closures or in an extreme emergency where an "active shooter situation is developing."

Inside Burbank Auditorium on Thursday morning, students quietly rehearsed scenes for drama classes in hallways outside set design, make-up and costume rooms. On the other side of the building, debate students lined up for class.

Ed LaFrance, who teaches mass communications, was getting ready for a class near the back of the building where the attack occurred. LaFrance said there's more violence on campus than most people suspect.

Pointing to a handwritten sign taped to the classroom door, he said that after the Virginia Tech shootings, he instituted a strict classroom policy.

The sign read, "Door locked. Sorry you're late. Take an absence."

Staff Writer Mary Callahan contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writers Julie Johnson at 521-5220 and Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.