Contact: Maridith Geuder
A Mississippi State University student who reported an early morning rape today [Aug. 24, 2007] has recanted her story.
The student admitted late Friday afternoon in interviews with campus police that she had fabricated the details of the alleged assault.
We take the security of our students very seriously, and this has raised unfounded alarm with both students and parents," said MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong. "Even though this is an unfortunate incident, we encourage students who encounter suspicious circumstances to report them. Safety is always our top priority."
In addition to increasing police patrols, the university had issued a campus-wide e-mail alert and issued news releases to call attention to the incident.