It’s a case of more students reporting sex crimes, not of more sex crimes actually occurring. That’s been the response of University of Maryland College Park administrators to new analysis by the U.S Department of Education saying the number of reported sex crimes on campus has tripled in the past year.
The report states that in 2004 there were 10 incidents of sexual assault reported to authorities at the university, versus 33 incidents reported the next year.
Although straight statistics may paint a far-from-rosy picture, Linda Clement, vice president of student affairs for the university, says the sharp increase is mainly because students are more aware of a victim advocacy program that encourages them to come forward if they’ve been victimized.
“It’s certainly not good news when students are victims of sexual assault, but it is good news when they are reporting the crimes more,” Clement told The Examiner on Sunday. “We’ve done much more publicity in the student newspaper about the center, and all the attention has really encouraged people to come in.”
The program, which is geared specifically toward getting students to report the often underreported crime of sexual assault, falls under the Office of Student Affairs and is housed in the university’s health center.
Clement said the program was started four years ago under the university police department, but it is now funded entirely by the school and exists outside of the police. The center has one full-time advocate and a recent addition of a peer adviser.
According to the University of Maryland’s Uniform Crime Report, which the school is required by law to compile, there were two rapes reported in 2005 to campus police compared to three in 2004 and six in 2003. As for other sexual offenses, five were reported to campus police in 2005, seven in 2004 and four in 2003.
