A man accused of raping one University of Montana student and assaulting another earlier this month was contacted repeatedly by UM Dean of Students Charles Couture before fleeing the country.

After Couture informed the man — who was accompanied by his lawyer — that he was being accused of sexual assault under the university’s Student Code of Conduct, the man left the area, UM President Royce Engstrom said Friday.

In fact, the man — a Saudi national studying at UM — has left the country, Missoula Mayor John Engen said police told him earlier Friday.

The campus is safer because of the man’s departure, Engstrom said at a news conference that he called to clarify the sequence of events involved in the incidents. He called the university’s actions “timely” and “appropriate.” Any impression “that we sat around for a week before we did anything” is untrue, he said.

Both women allegedly were assaulted by the man in separate incidents on Feb. 10. One woman reported her assault, which Engstrom termed not sexual, to campus police that same day.