Dear UWO Campus Community members,
Like you, we are concerned by the recent, uncharacteristic rash of crime and violence in a neighborhood east of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The most recent incident involved a robbery and the stabbings of two students late Friday night. They suffered serious injuries, but we are glad to report that both victims are recuperating at an area hospital.
As the Oshkosh Police Department (OPD) has shared, the Friday night incident happened at approximately 11 p.m. in the 400 block of West Lincoln Avenue and 700 block of Wright Street. Police seek a “lone, white male suspect described as 5’9” to 6’0” tall weighing approximately 250 pounds with a buzz haircut and wearing dark, baggy clothing in connection with both stabbings.”
OPD is leading the ongoing investigation of these recent crimes. University Police are collaborating. We echo OPD’s request that anyone with any information about the incidents please call (920) 236-5700. If you have information and would like to remain anonymous, you can contact Winnebago County Wide Crime Stoppers at (920) 231-8477 or text IGOTYA, and your crime tip to 274637. Online, you can go to www.winnebagocrimestoppers.org and submit your tip.
Victims are never responsible for the violence perpetrated against them. There are steps we can each take to strengthen our safety.
We have used our Titan Alert system to send incident information to anyone who signs up to receive text messages. The system helps us relay critical incident and safety details to campus community members’ and others’ phones as soon as possible. It also allows us to echo those same messages through University email and Twitter and Facebook to students, staff and faculty. You can sign up to receive Titan Alert text messages at http://emergency.uwosh.edu.
If you are out late at night, we encourage you, as OPD recommends, to travel in groups and stay in well-lit areas. There are a number of additional tips and resources you can use, including our campus-based Safewalk program, which provides trained Community Service Officers (CSOs) to safely escort you on and around campus during the evening and night hours. You can learn more about it and our other safety tips and resources at www.uwosh.edu/up. You can also download our free UW Oshkosh mobile app, which offers quick access to safety resources.
Ensuring that UW Oshkosh is a safe place to study, work and live is our most important responsibility. We care about one another here, and we take the obligation to individually and collectively preserve a safe campus community very seriously. We thank you for taking an active role, and we pledge to keep you informed of any new developments in the ongoing investigations.
Petra Roter, Interim Chancellor
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh