Following an alleged aggravated assault at Booth Library Tuesday, the library staff is placing security in the hands of the University Police Department

“I’m saddened of course that this has happened,” said a library aide who wished to remain unnamed.

The library staff will take extra precautions, not wander alone and have security in place, she said. The library will have to defer to the UPD now and the staff is sure the UPD is keeping a watchful eye on the matter.

“We feel it’s in the hands of the police to do their investigation and hopefully resolve it,” the aide said.

The alleged assault happened in the first floor women’s restroom, a university press release said. A female student reported entering the restroom and discovering a white male in his late teens or early twenties holding a pocket knife.

The subject approached the female student, then fled the scene, leaving the student uninjured.

The subject was described as approximately six feet, two inches tall, with short blond hair and black metal frame glasses. He was wearing a white t-shirt with a blue logo, blue jeans and blue baseball cap turned backwards, the press release stated.

Adam Due, UPD chief of police, said the department is still investigating the incident.

“It’s hard to classify the crime,” Due said. The incident involved no injury, but a male was in a women’s restroom with a weapon.

Due said there has not been a lot of crime similar to the alleged assault at Eastern.

The incident was a big deal to the woman, so the UPD is treating it as a priority, he said. The UPD will do its best to go through the report and information to solve it.

Jason Bonny, a sophomore music education major, said he was at the library right after the incident took place and didn’t know until he read about it the next day.

“It was weird to read about it in the paper,” Bonny said.

He walked past an officer while at the library and his friends had used the same restroom about 30 minutes after it occurred.

“I’ll still go to the library and still feel safe,” said Kristin Wargo, a sophomore public relations major.

Sarah McGing, a sophomore undecided major, said it is scary to hear about the incident. McGing remembers English professor Bill Feltt getting attacked last year and said she had heard a rumor of an attack in Lincoln occurring this year as well.

“No matter how much security you have, there are always going to be crazy people out there,” said Kimberly Jenkins, a computer technology graduate student.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact the UPD at 581-3212 or 581-3213.

Stevenson incident also left unsolved

During a routine fire drill Tuesday, a pane of glass was shattered in the west hall of Stevenson Hall near the Student Recreation Center, said Jason Taylor, the Douglas Hall Associate Resident Director. No students were injured.

The UPD said they could not respond to the incident because it happened around the same time as the alleged assault in the library.

Taylor said specially cut glass needs to be pre-ordered for the repair.

Facilities planning and management’s building services trouble reports said the special pre-ordered glass may take days or even weeks to be received.

A group of students have been found and been held accountable for the broken glass, Taylor said. The students broke the glass while “horsing around.”

Anna Pougas, a junior family and consumer sciences major and Stevenson Hall dining worker, said people have come in and mentioned the broken window, but it has not caused any inconveniences. The broken glass was cleaned and boarded up right after it happened.

“The flies are annoying,” said Katie Jones, a freshman business management major. The flies either came from the window being open or from the doors opening or closing.

One student heard a rumor the alleged assault and broken window incident were related.

“The rumor I heard was the guy from the library with the knife leapt through it,” said Delanor Benson, a junior music education major.

Campus Editor Jennifer Chiariello can be reached at [email protected].