BOWLING GREEN — Hundreds of Bowling Green State University students protested in the heart of campus today, angry at what they see as the university’s failure to protect students against sexual assault.

RELATED ARTICLE: Student criticizes BGSU's handling of reported rape

The protest outside the BGSU Bowen-Thompson Student Union was prompted by a rapidly shared Facebook post by Chelsea Halm, 18, a freshman at BGSU, who wrote on Tuesday evening that she was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance on campus. Her post was rapidly shared by more than 1,700 people within 24 hours, before she believed Facebook took it down for using her alleged rapist’s name.

The Blade’s policy is not to name alleged sexual assault survivors, but Ms. Halm agreed in an interview to use her name.

IN PICTURES: Students protest at BGSU over sex assault

VIDEO: BGSU sexual assault protest

In her post, she describes attempting suicide after the assault, and criticizes the university for what she believes was a flawed investigation that included victim blaming, and for BGSU’s failure to stop her reported attacker from harassing her.

The man Ms. Halm says attacked her is a BGSU student who was suspended from Ohio University in November, 2015, after he was found in violation of that university’s code of conduct section that covers sexual misconduct, stalking, and relationship violence, according to an OU spokesman. BGSU did not know about that finding when it accepted him in the fall of 2016, according to a BGSU spokesman, who added the information OU provided did not inform BGSU of the disciplinary action it described today. 

Students who do not earn any course credits at their prior university would apply as a freshman, instead of as a transfer student, according to the university. While the transfer application asks if a student has previously been found responsible for a nonacademic violation of a student code of conduct, the freshman application does not.

Protesters, many of them survivors of sexual assault, called for the end of what they described as a rape culture at BGSU — an environment where women are blamed for their assaults and perpetrators are not held responsible for their actions. 

Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086, or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.

First Published April 27, 2017, 6:52 p.m.