Rampant Rapes Jolt U.S Colleges!

Gothic-style university building with central stone tower — Photo: Mihail Degteariov / Shutterstock

Four sexual assault reports hit Cal State San Marcos in the first three weeks of the fall semester, and the school says every victim knew their attacker.

Quick Take

Cal State San Marcos confirmed four sexual assault reports between September 5 and September 18.
The reports came from three campus spots: The Quad, University Village Apartments, and Black Oak Hall.
University spokesperson Jerry McCormick said the cases do not appear connected.
A separate arrest of a rideshare driver near campus added to safety concerns days later.

Four Reports, Three Weeks, One Campus on Edge

Cal State San Marcos told students that four sexual assaults were reported on four different days this month. The dates were September 5, September 6, September 13, and September 18. The locations were The Quad, University Village Apartments, and Black Oak Hall. School spokesperson Jerry McCormick confirmed the reports and said the people involved knew each other in each case.

McCormick also said the university does not believe the four incidents are linked. That detail matters. It tells students this isn’t one predator working through campus. But four reports in three weeks is still a jarring number for any school, especially one just starting its academic year.

Campus Alerts Follow Federal Law, Not Panic

The warnings students received were not random emails. They were Clery Timely Warnings, a federal requirement tied to the Jeanne Clery Act. Schools must alert their community when a reported crime could pose an ongoing threat to safety. The first alert went out September 5 and covered two incidents at once, according to reporting from The Coast News.

These warnings exist so students can make informed choices about where they walk at night or who they trust. They are not meant to spark panic, but they often do exactly that. Universities walk a tightrope: stay silent and get accused of a cover-up, or speak up and get accused of scaring students unnecessarily.

A Separate Arrest Adds to the Unease

Days after the fourth report, the California Highway Patrol arrested a 50-year-old ride-hailing driver in connection with an alleged sexual assault near San Marcos. The driver, identified as Ramon Ochoa Reyes, is accused of assaulting a 21-year-old woman during an Uber trip early in the morning. He was later released on bond while the investigation continued.

This case appears separate from the four campus reports, but the timing landed hard on a community already on edge. Parents dropping students off for their first semester now have one more reason to double-check who is behind the wheel of every rideshare their kid books late at night.

Why the Numbers Rarely Tell the Full Story

Cal State San Marcos is far from unique in facing this kind of cluster. Research published in 2025 found that Clery Act data, the same system behind these campus alerts, consistently undercounts sexual misconduct compared to what university Title IX offices actually record internally. That gap exists whether or not a school makes its Title IX numbers public.

That undercounting problem cuts both ways for parents and students trying to judge risk. A quiet campus crime report doesn’t always mean a safe campus. And a spike in reports, like the one at San Marcos, doesn’t always mean things suddenly got more dangerous. It can also mean more students are coming forward, which is its own kind of progress.

Still, four reports naming three specific locations in three weeks is not background noise. It’s a signal that deserves a serious campus response, not a shrug. Parents sending kids to any state school this fall have every right to ask pointed questions about lighting, security patrols, and how fast alerts go out after a report lands on a desk.

“McCormick added that Cal State San Marcos begins educating students about consent and sexual assault prevention before they arrive on campus and continues those efforts throughout the academic year.”

Why is this even necessary? Are men at this university that stupid?

— Erika 🇺🇦🇵🇱 (@Carp3_Vinum) September 22, 2026

The university says it is following its legal obligations and treating each case individually. That’s the right baseline. But baseline compliance with a federal disclosure law isn’t the same as making a campus feel safe, and students at San Marcos are right to expect both.