University of Missouri-Kansas City students are demanding change after an alleged rape on campus.
Wednesday at noon a group of almost 100 students gathered at the quad to express outrage at how administrators handled a reported rape.
Jackson County Prosecutors have charged Juan Contreras with the alleged crime.
Court documents show surveillance cameras captured the Colorado man carrying the victim who had a missing shoe after a night of drinking into Johnson Hall.
Detectives said Contreras, who turned 23 Wednesday, admitted to having sex with the victim in her intoxicated state.
Students said the university never alerted students and also accuse a spokesperson, John Martellaro, of downplaying the crime in an interview with University News, the campus newspaper.
"Their response to it is deeply disturbing," Hilary Metzger, a UMKC senior and rape survivor said.
Martellaro apologized for his remarks in a letter to the campus newspaper and wrote "rape is rape."
"That's good on him but I think that's a showing and telling of the university not progressing with the times," Brennan Schartz, a UMKC sophomore said.
Which is why marched through campus during the lunch hour.
"They said this is not a security issue. This is absolutely a security issue, you have a woman--a man carrying a woman into the dorm unconscious right past the front desk and we have security then it's obviously a security issue," Helene Slinker, a UMKC freshman said.
The group's final destination was the university's administrative center, just a block away from the scene of the crime.
"We are hurt and we need to be heard," Metzger told the group through a megaphone.
She wants additional resources for rape survivors like herself.
"We want better security on UMKC’s campus and we also want counseling for survivors a support group--an individual one," Metzger
In response, UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton has announced the university will "engage in a top to bottom review of security measures and staff training".
UMKC spokesperson sent 41 Action News this statement Wednesday evening:
"According to university procedure on personnel matters, we can confirm that John Martellaro is still employed, but can make no further comment on any other personnel actions.
As a university with a history of strong support for sexual assault survivors, we can’t help but be very concerned about a comment that can cause such pain to our campus community. At the same time, we believe that UMKC should be a place of learning from mistakes. It’s a core value for the university. When problems occur, we want to address them directly, seek to understand the context and provide specific remedies for learning and remediation."
--Stacy Downs
UMKC Senior Public Relations Specialist
Chancellor Morton is also planning a listening session for March 13 at 1:30 p.m.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
