Sex act at Princeton Univ. private eating club under investigation

PRINCETON, N.J. (WPVI) -- Princeton University is under the microscope for how they handle sexual violence cases.

"We currently have no victim, no witness," says Princeton Police Chief Nick Sutter.

But he is hoping that will change.

Right now his department, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office and Princeton University officials are looking into reports of an incident that allegedly took place last month at the Tiger Inn, one of the schools private eating clubs on Prospect Street.

Police received a tip that an intoxicated freshman girl supposedly performed a sex act on a senior on the dance floor while an officer of the club allegedly snapped a photo of the incident and shared it with others.

Sutter explains, "If there was a victim that was either incapacitated or forced to do something against his or her will, an act of sexual nature, if there was a picture disseminated of a sexual act against this person's will or consent, that would constitute a crime."

The student president of the Tiger Inn tells Action News in an email that the eating club is cooperating with the investigation.

The club's board of governors released a statement saying:

"Sexual activity of any kind is expressly prohibited in public areas of the club by the Tiger Inn code of conduct, but we cannot comment in further detail until the conclusion of the investigation."

Many students didn't know about or didn't want to talk about the investigation. But if the allegations are true, some are critical of those involved.

Richard, a student at the university, tells us, "First of all, you are taking advantage of a person and it's embarrassing. It's just a horrible thing to do to someone."

Another student, Sylvia Jacobson, tells us, "I really think it's scary that someone would be in that position and I think it's a really dark side of the social life here."

Princeton student Joanna Anyanwu says, "It doesn't matter whether she was drunk or not. What matters is that picture shouldn't have been disseminated."

And student Tommy Scott says, "She doesn't have the mental abilities to give consent at that point. Taking pictures, distributing it, that's not really appropriate."

The Tiger Inn is known as "Animal House" around Princeton due to its hard partying, which has led to trouble before.

Police are asking anyone who was there or knows anything more about the alleged incident to contact them immediately.