Area Universities Respond To New Campus Crime Report

The website looked at 2012 data, the most recent available, from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education.

The study includes only on-campus incidents for schools with more than 5,000 enrolled students and residential dorms.As heard on the radio

Calls and emails to Rehabs.com were not returned.

Emory reported 26 forcible sex offenses in 2012.

In a statement, Emory spokesperson Beverly Cox Clark said Rehab.com’s numbers “don’t tell the whole story.”

She attributed the higher number to more assault survivors coming forward due to better education and campus outreach.

“The University devotes multiple resources to students, faculty and staff for outreach, support, reporting and advocacy, with a priority on prevention to work toward a bold goal of eradicating sexual assault on our campus,” Clark said.

Clark said the majority of campus assault reports are anonymous and do not involve police investigations at the request of the affected student.

University of West Georgia also released a statement from campus Police Chief Thomas Mackle.

“The University of West Georgia takes drug and alcohol infractions seriously,” Mackle said in the statement released by the school. “We believe the arrest numbers reflect our dedication to aggressively pursuing offenders and providing a safe campus environment for all students.”

The University of West Georgia also ranked 25th in on-campus drug arrests per 1,000 students, with Southern Polytechnic State coming in at 39th.

Read Emory’s full statement below:

Numbers do not tell the whole story. We want our students who have been affected by issues of sexual assault to get the support they need, and more are coming forward due to initiatives such as the Respect Program, which provides confidential advocacy-based counseling, prevention education,  and the training of more than 1,000 Sexual Assault Peer Advocates. The University devotes multiple resources to students, faculty and staff for outreach, support, reporting and advocacy, with a priority on prevention to work toward a bold goal of eradicating sexual assault on our campus.

The vast majority of sexual assault reports at Emory are anonymous,  and do not involve formal police investigations at the request of the affected student. Per university policy and federal law, Emory includes these numbers in its annual security report as required by the Clery Act. According to the Clery Center for Security on Campus, colleges and universities that are effectively educating their students and responding to survivors may likely have higher numbers of sexual misconduct cases reported to campus officials.