Report of 2 UCI Rapes Investigated : Mystery: Four men allegedly assaulted two women last month. No victims have come forth. Students plan rally.

UC Irvine police are investigating a witness’s report that four men raped two women in a campus park during daylight last month, and though no victims have come forward, the rumor alone has prompted students to plan a rally against sexual assaults.

Four days after the alleged attack, a woman told campus police that she saw a gang rape about 2:30 p.m. April 23 in Aldrich Park, which is near the center of the university, Sgt. Bob Lucas said Tuesday.

The witness, whose name was withheld for her protection, did not report the crime until April 27 because she thought the victims would have notified authorities over the weekend, Lucas said.

It was not clear why she did not immediately seek help when she saw the alleged crime.

A day after the witness came forward, officers began distributing flyers throughout the campus asking for help from anyone with information about the alleged rapes.

The flyers have alarmed students and staff members at the university, and some are questioning the report.

Paula Goldsmid, director of the Women’s Resource Center at UCI, took issue with that attitude. The witness “is a person who in my experience is a credible person,” Goldsmid said.

The witness said the crime took place in the Rock Garden area, which is on elevated land in the middle of Aldrich Park in an area that is partially covered by bushes, trees and boulders, campus officials said. The park itself is generally well used by students going to classes or those just lollygagging on a sunny day.

“If someone had asked me before if this could happen, I would have said very unlikely, which doesn’t mean it can’t happen,” Goldsmid said.

Nevertheless, she said that “a lot of people are very concerned (about the incident). . . . I’m very alarmed by this.”

Melissa O’Neil, a staff writer for UCI’s weekly newspaper, said students and staff members are both “frightened and unsure” about the situation.

O’Neil’s front-page story, which appeared on Monday, reported that campus police are investigating the reported rapes.

“It seems to be iffy,” she said. “But police are concerned and have been working hard on it.”

There are numerous explanations of why no one else saw or heard the attack, O’Neil said. Screams could have been muffled by lawn mowers, and the normal flow of students through the park could have been disrupted by workers who were setting up a medieval fair that afternoon in the area.

The allegations have prompted several student groups to set a noon rally May 14 against rapes and sexual assaults, the director of the Women’s Resource Center said.

“You don’t want bad things to happen, but it is important to take the opportunity, when people are paying attention, to invite people to learn more about the issue,” said Goldsmid, whose department includes the Rape Prevention and Education Program.

“The important thing is to talk about why victims of rapes and sexual assaults are very reluctant to come forward and to be supportive,” she said.

The ethnicity of the women in the alleged attack might have made them even less willing to report the crime, Goldsmid said. She described the attackers as Anglos in their early 20s and the women as Asians in their late teens, according to a talk with campus security.

“Different groups on campus have been talking about how in different cultures, some of the particular views and beliefs, might make it particularly difficult for Asian women to come forward,” she said. “It adds another dimension to it.”