by Christopher Whitten 
University of Memphis 

A registered sex offender who may have been living in a University of Memphis dormitory was arrested March 26 for allegedly raping a student on campus.

University police held 23-year-old Cortney Adkins, who has been a registered sex offender since 2010, on a $100,000 bond.

Memphis police said the alleged rape occurred within the Thomas G. Carpenter Student Housing Complex, apartment-style dorms adjacent to a university childcare facility and early childhood center.

The alleged rape was not immediately recorded in the university's mandatory daily log of campus crimes. Nor was it mentioned in a Monday public safety email to the campus community that warned of two men driving around campus stealing cell phones.

A Daily Helmsman reporter noticed a new sex offense entry in crime log the afternoon after Adkins' arrest, at which time no police were available for comment.

Journalism major Laura Nelson lives in Carpenter Complex and said she was unaware of the rape.

“Knowing that it was literally right around the corner makes me feel unsafe,” Nelson said. “I come out and walk through here at all hours, and I usually feel safe. Had I known, I would be more alert. We can help other people if we know.”

This is the first article regarding the arrest of Adkins on rape charges. Read the full story here and follow-up reporting, also by Christopher Whitten, here. 
 

The Daily Helmsman has tangled with university police before over open records.

From a March 27, 2012, article detailing how the newspaper obtained records of another campus rape in November 2011: "The Helmsman seeks the names of victims, suspects and witnesses on all criminal reports in order to get a further explanation of what occurred, check previous criminal history of those involved and to know whether those involved are people of high importance or well-known to the campus community. The paper’s policy is to never print the name of a victim without the victim’s permission and to not disclose the name of a suspect, unless he or she was charged with a crime."