While college campuses across the state saw a 25 percent spike in reported sexual assaults last year, complaints were cut in half at Western Connecticut State University where just two cases were reported in 2013, according to a recently released campus security report.
Students are seen on the grounds of Western Connecticut State University after several buildings at the University midtown campus were evacuated in September.
Eight of the 19 state colleges and universities that released their annual crime reports under the Clery Act had an increase in sexual assault reports in 2013 from 2012. Six schools reported a decrease in sexual assault complaints from 2012 and five had the same number of reported incidents.
WCSU, which has an enrollment of more than 6,000 students, had two reported sexual assaults in 2011, four in 2012 and two last year.
“The best outcome is zero sexual assaults, but that is unrealistic for any institution,” said Paul Steinmetz, director of community relations at WCSU. “So we try as hard as we can to be as low as we can.”
The number of reported sexual assaults nearly doubled in 2013 at the University of Connecticut, which received 25 complaints last year, compared to 13 in 2012.
Trinity College, which has an enrollment of just 2,000 students, had the highest rate of sexual assault complaints among state schools with 21 cases last year. Trinity had a rate of 8.79 cases per 1,000 students in 2013 compared to WCSU’s 0.33 rate of reported incidents.
Albertus Magnus in New Haven and the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford were the only two state schools without a reported sexual assault in 2013.
The number of reported sexual assaults on college campuses in the state has risen over the last five years, according to the Connecticut Health Team, which supplies health news and data to state media. There were 47 total cases reported in 2009, 75 in 2010, 70 in 2011, 83 in 2012 and 104 in 2013.
“I think reporting has improved in institutions,” WCSU Police Lt. Roger Connor said. “I don’t know if there has been a spike in the number of incidents or an improvement in reporting.”
Western Connecticut State University junior Natasha Veloso, of Danbury, walks along campus in Danbury, Conn. Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014. After a student at Sacred Heart University was raped earlier this month, local campus security is being brought into question.
Connor said improvements in reporting assaults at WCSU will likely show a higher number of complaints next year.
“I would expect those numbers to go up,” Connor said. “At least 75 or 80 percent of assaults go unreported and we are just trying to bring that number in line.”
WCSU launched this fall an anonymous reporting system, where a victim or witness can go online and fill out a form explaining the incident. This helps victims come forward in a non-intimidating way, Connor said.
After monitoring other institutions that established the anonymous reporting, their numbers of assaults went up, Connor said.
“That is the trend that happens when other universities have put this into motion,” Connor said.
Connor attributed WCSU’s small number of reported incidents to the school’s campus response team, which includes more than 10 staff members. The team responds to reported incidents and also creates programs to educate students.
About 120 WCSU students and faculty attended a forum last spring about the campus programs available to help victims of sexual assault. The university has an on-campus office of the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury and programs that raise awareness about sexual violence like Operation Jungle Red and the Men’s Initiative.
“We have a lot of programming to address sexual assault to educate males and females on how to protect themselves,” Steinmetz, said. “We continuously try to improve.”