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Research Shows College Sexual Assaults in Some Areas Are Returning to Pre-COVID Levels

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Incidents of sexual assaults on college campuses seem to be returning to pre-pandemic levels at a number of colleges and universities, according to new reports.

In the annual reporting to the Connecticut General Assembly Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, 32 public and private higher education institutions recorded a total of 393 cases of sexual assault, 61 cases of stalking, and 175 cases of intimate partner violence, for a total of 629 reports of violence made to colleges during the 2021 calendar year, according to an October 17 Hartford Courant article. These numbers were a 40% increase from the 451 reports made in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and were only 35 cases (5%) short of the 664 reports of sexual violence made in 2019.

“We know that there’s way more that’s unreported than what’s shown in those numbers,” Meghan Scanlon, the president and CEO of the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, was quoted in the Hartford Courant as saying. “There are a lot of reasons that individuals might not come forward.”

At Rutgers University in New Jersey, the student-run school newspaper The Daily Targum reported in a November 9 article that Rutgers “experienced a significant number of sexual assault incidents in recent weeks, specifically on the College Avenue campus.” Assaults included an October 17 assault on a person associated with the school by a male perpetrator in a dormitory laundry room, an October 29 assault on two different female residents while they were asleep in their home after a male perpetrator entered the premises through an unlocked window, and an October 30 assault at the Rutgers Student Center where a male perpetrator dropped an item on an individual’s lap and inappropriately touched the victim when retrieving it.

Cornell University recently suspended all fraternity parties after reports of multiple sexual assaults in recent weeks. In a November 7 public statement, Cornell’s president, Martha E. Pollack, and vice president of student and campus life, Ryan Lombardi, noted that the Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) issued crime alerts the previous weekend alleging that at least four students were drugged and another was sexually assaulted at off-campus residences affiliated with registered fraternities. As a result, the Interfraternity Council (IFC), which governs all IFC-recognized fraternities at Cornell, temporarily suspended all fraternity parties and social events, effective immediately. “No IFC-affiliated social events will resume until student leaders and Cornell staff are confident activities can take place responsibly and safely. Crime is never the fault of those who are victimized,” Pollack stated.

According to an April 1 American Psychological Association article, Erin Bonar, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said that in 2022, many college leaders have welcomed back essentially two first-year classes, as the sophomores were largely isolated learning online the previous year.

“Whether it’s technically their first or second year in college, they’re in a new environment and that is going to potentially affect their risk for sexual violence or sexual assault,” Bonar said.

Moreover, college students of all ages might be tempted to go overboard socializing as they embrace returning to pre-pandemic campus life, Bonar said. “Some people are excited to be back, they want to party, they want to see their friends, they’re drinking, and that context might increase their risk of sexual violence occurring.”

As 18-year-old Ilana Drake wrote in Ms. Magazine, “I long for the day when ‘don’t rape’ pervades childhood teachings as much as ‘don’t get raped’ has, when school administrators value the lives of students more than the university’s reputation, and when the nighttime security emails no longer disrupt our dreams.”



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