An 18-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted at a York University frosh week event Sept. 6, according to a news release by the Toronto Police Service.
A male approached the woman from behind and assaulted her at 1 a.m., the release stated.
The suspect is described as 18-20 years old, 5-2 to 5-7 tall and 150-160 lbs., according to the release.
It also said he has an “olive/tanned complexion,” a lower-right-lip piercing, and was wearing a black zip-up hoodie, with a brimmed hat underneath the hood, and mirrored black sunglasses.
Soon after the alleged assault, York University Security Services published an online security bulletin to alert students of the issue.
“A community member who was attending an outdoor orientation event at Stong College was approached by a male who began to dance with her and then sexually assaulted her, touching her in an inappropriate manner,” the bulletin read.
Students, staff, and faculty were also emailed information about the incident directly, according to York spokesperson Janice Walls.
Noa Ashkenazi, an advisor for York’s sexual harassment prevention education program, said the university takes incidents such as these very seriously.
“These kind of incidents are way too common during frosh week, not just at York, but all over North America,” she said.
“This is why we get the police involved while other universities prefer to handle things internally and quietly.”
The incident occurred just a few days after York launched a new campaign against sexual violence called “You Had Me at Consent.”
