Earlier this month, the watchdog group Security on Campus lobbied for Congress to amend sexual assault acts so universities would have to disclose the total number of sexual assault hearings that occur on campus. The legislation would narrow the Clery Act, which requires universities to report information on crime that occurs on and around campus.
UW-Madison complies with both the Clery Act and state law requiring annual reports on campus crime, including sexual assault statistics, in its annual campus safety report. In accordance with the Clery Act, the report records the number of crimes committed on and around campus during the year, including forcible and non-forcible sexual offenses.
UW-Madison's 2008 campus safety report states a total of 19 sex offenses occurred during that year. However, according to Kevin Helmkamp, associate dean of students, around 40 sexual assault cases are reported on campus each year. Why the discrepancy?
One reason is that currently, the university only reports sexual assault hearings where the assailant was found guilty and suspended from the university, not the total number of hearings.
Another reason may be that the university omits a crucial area of assault in its safety reports. It reports sexual assaults that occur on campus, in university-owned residence halls and in ""non-campus"" areas. However, the university's definition of ""non-campus"" areas is not what you would expect. The report defines a ""non-campus"" area as a university affiliated non-campus buildings as opposed to truly university-independent entities.
This definition excludes places such as bars and clubs, where sexual assault is likely to happen. And although fraternities and sororities likely count as a student organization, the definition completely excludes apartments or houses inhabited by students off campus. According to a Peterson's report, about 74 percent of UW-Madison students live off-campus. Add that to the fact that most students living in the dorms migrate to off-campus houses for parties and a glaring omission emerges in these reports.
Dean of Students Lori Berquam and other UW-Madison administrators have doggedly stressed the access students have to counseling resources on campus. If UW-Madison is as committed to transparency as Berquam says, the university must start examining the real problem of sexual assault on campus more honestly and critically. To truly improve safety on campus, administrators and students alike must be proactive in proposing new measures the university can take to thwart sexual assault in future years.
