William and Mary reported seven rapes across its campuses in the past year — more than doubling the three they reported the year before — according to its most recent Campus Security and Fire Safety Report.
The report, released Thursday evening, covers all reported crime on William and Mary campuses and property for the last academic year.
It’s part of the university’s compliance with the Clery Act, a federal law passed in 1990 that requires all universities to report crimes in a timely fashion and provide support to victims.
Universities also must establish ways to quickly communicate warnings and emergencies, keep a daily crime log, and release an annual report by Oct. 1 of each year. Each time a school does not comply with the Act, they risk a $35,000 fine and could be barred from using federal financial aid.
All seven rape reports took place on the college’s Williamsburg campus. William and Mary also has a Newport News campus, a Washington, D.C. office, its Institute of Marine Science, and the Eastern Shore Laboratory.
The law has stopped distinguishing between forced and non-forced sex acts . After the 2013 report, the Clery Act only required schools to place sex offenses into four categories: rape, fondling, incest or statutory rape.
William and Mary reported 176 liquor law violations in 2015, down from past years. Reports of liquor law arrests are also down, with just 20 in 2015.
The Clery Act was named for Jeanne Clery, who was a student at Lehigh University when fellow student Josoph M. Henry murdered her in a dormitory.
Convinced that security on the campus was shoddy, her parents founded a nonprofit called Security on Campus, which eventually became the Clery Center for Security on Campus.
On its website, the Clery Center warns that the the number of reports on a campus doesn’t necessarily equate to the number of crimes that actually occurred.
Underreporting happens all over the country, and the Clery Center stresses that making reporting crime easy and accessible is one of the best ways to fight it.
Anyone from a student resident advisor, to the dean of students, to an athletic director or coach is responsible for reporting crimes if they know or are made aware of them.
Wright can be reached by phone at 757 345 2343.
Trends
Rape and forcible sex acts
: On its Williamsburg campus, three forcible sex offenses were reported in 2014, and one in 2013 and eight in 2012. Because of the change in data grouping, 2014 was the last year schools kept data on the broad term of forcible sex offenses.
Liquor law violations:
2015: 176
2014: 234
2013: 454
Liquor law arrests
2015: 20
2014: 44
2013: 65
Drug arrests:
2015: 21
2014: 21
2013: 14
Source: William and Mary Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Reports
