A first year Oswego State student has been accused of raping a female freshman student on Oct. 25 in Funnelle Hall. According to University Police Chief John Rossi, the suspect is currently out on bail.

Cayuga Hall resident Adarsha Budhathoki, 18, of Brewster, New York, was arrested for third-degree rape, second-degree unlawful imprisonment and third-degree sexual abuse.

According to Rossi, the two people involved in this case were originally acquaintances and there were no drugs or alcohol involved.

After the victim reported the incident on Oct. 25, University Police started an investigation resulting in Budhathoki’s arrest four days later. Rossi confirmed that Budhathoki was the main suspect when it was initially reported.

“We did a lot of background investigations, we re-interviewed the victim and took a written statement from the victim,” Rossi said. “We had to question other people that had information that would be helpful to the prosecution, so we wanted to gather all of that information first before we confronted the suspect.”

According to Rossi, the suspect is alleged to have restrained the victim, preventing her from leaving, which resulted in the charge of unlawful imprisonment in the second degree. The suspect is also accused of committing other sexual acts that the victim did not consent to and therefore was charged with sexual abuse in the third degree.

University Police conducted a criminal history search and the suspect did not have criminal history reported in New York State or the United States and they declared that he wasn’t a danger to the campus.

Oswego State President Deborah Stanley sent an email to the student body on Oct. 30 in response to the sexual assault incident.

“We are deeply concerned about the reported sexual assault on our campus this week,” Stanley wrote. “Our University Police conducted the investigation with care and dedication to the safety of our students and community, and they have arrested a student. The campus community is not believed to be at risk. SUNY Oswego does not tolerate sexual assault. Please remember that it’s on us to look out for and care about each other. We offer support and resources to victims and anyone concerned about sexual and interpersonal violence online at oswego.edu/title-ix/.”

Stanley said the reason behind sending out a campus wide email was to update the campus.

“We listened to students’ concerns about disclosure of information last semester and decided to proactively address them,” Stanley said.

Throughout the year, the administration has offered and promoted Title IX training and bystander intervention training.

“Colleges and universities are at the forefront of trying to bring about a culture change in our society where sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual violence simply do not occur,” Stanley said. “We are applying significant action and thought to those efforts but until that culture change has pervaded our global society at all levels, unfortunately, we must be prepared to confront and deal with this societal ill.”

Despite the action that the administration takes to offer programs and prevent sexual assault, according to Rossi, there is only so much the administration can do to control the actions of individuals.

“You can never really anticipate people’s behavior, but within the last year with the governor’s initiative and how the college has embraced the governor’s initiatives and we have brought our Title IX coordinator into a full time position, there is no excuse for behavior like this occurring and we are very disappointed that it did occur with one of our students,” Rossi said.

Part of Title IX is to provide victims with counseling. University Police works with Services to Aid Families (SAF) in Oswego to provide victims the services they need.

“We automatically bring in a SAF advocate to be with the victim through the whole process and has shown to really help the victim and law enforcement to deal with the situation,” Rossi said.

According to Rossi, Budhathoki had a preliminary hearing Monday at Oswego Town Court and the district attorney’s office plans to bring this case to a grand jury. He was recently released on bail that was set at $5,000 bail or $10,000 bail bond.

According to Becky Nadzadi, assistant Dean of Students, if a student is found responsible for sexual assault on campus, suspension or expulsion are the only two outcomes possible.

“SUNY Oswego does not tolerate sexual assault,” Stanley said. “Our college community continues to work together to build a culture of respect and shared responsibility.”