ERIN O'BRIEN / THE DEPAUW
Reported sexual assault on DePauw University’s campus more than doubled between 2012 and 2013, according to the Clery Report. In 2012, seven cases were reported; in 2013, 15 cases were reported.
The report, also known as the Annual Fire and Safety Report, includes data for the past three calendar years. The Clery Act, passed in 1990, mandates that all institutions of higher education that receive money from the federal government release an annual crime report. The sexual assault category includes more than rape. It also includes sodomy, sexual assault with an object and fondling.
“There’s no reason to believe that DePauw is any different from any other campus necessarily,” said Sarah Ryan, director of the women’s center, of DePauw’s reporting percentages.
The 2013 statistics left left DePauw with more reports than all peer institutions within the Great Lakes Colleges Association. The Great Lakes Colleges Association consists of Albion College, Allegheny College, Antioch College, Denison University, DePauw, Earlham College, Hope College, Kalamazoo College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wabash College and the College of Wooster.
But 15 is only the reported cases.
Ryan said that the Campus Climate Survey suggests that about 12 percent of DePauw’s female population have said that they were sexually assaulted on DePauw’s campus. This means that approximately 144 female students have been sexually assaulted.
Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, or RAINN, estimates that 60 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to the police. If DePauw was reporting at the national average of approximately 40 percent, then there would be 86 reports according to these numbers.
Angie Nally, director of public safety, noted that DePauw has been on a three-year campaign focused on increased prevention and encouraged reporting from a Department of Justice grant.
“We would expect that our statistics would increase,” Nally said.
The number of reported sexual assaults also impacts the number of cases that are brought before the sexual misconduct hearing board, but the decision to bring a case to the board is left to the victim.
Assistant Dean of Students Julia Sutherlin said that last year there was an increase in the number of cases that went before DePauw’s sexual misconduct board. In May, The DePauw reported that for five years prior to the 2012-2013 school year, an average of three cases per academic year went before the board. The board heard seven cases during last academic year. This academic year, there has yet to be a case that goes before the board, but it is still early.
“Potentially maybe more assaults are happening,” Sutherlin said. “But maybe it’s not more assaults, it’s just that more reports are coming through.”
All reported cases of sexual assault reported to Public Safety are forwarded to the prosecutor’s office. Victims then choose whether or not to file charges.
“Anytime there’s a sexual assault, we’re told about it,” said Tim Bookwalter, a prosecuting attorney in Putnam County.
Yet Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Matt Headley rarely sees sexual assault cases from DePauw come onto his docket. Headley believes this is because victims often decide they do not want to move forward with the charges.
“They don’t want to go through what they perceive as the embarrassment of the process,” Headley said.
Headley also pointed out that not all violations of DePauw’s sexual misconduct policy constitute criminal activity in the legal system. Instead, Headley has to rely on the cases that come to him.
“I just have to call the balls and call the strikes,” Headley said. “It takes a lot to get from alleged incident to an actual conviction.”
While judgement for the community standards process and sexual misconduct hearings use a “preponderance of evidence,” or the belief that an event most likely occurred, the standards in a court of law is higher.
“It has to be beyond a reasonable doubt,” Headley said.
Headley, who used to be a prosecuting attorney, said that the biggest hindrance is cases going unreported.
“Don’t be afraid of reporting it,” Bookwalter said. “Don’t be afraid of the system.”
Ryan encourages all victims to seek help and utilize the resources in the Women’s Center, which is open to all students regardless of gender or sexual preference.
“We, as an American culture, don’t even talk about sex, the kind of positive, consensual sex, in an open way,” Ryan said. “So to talk about a sex crime, I think, is even more difficult."
Ryan encourages all students to minimize vulnerability but said that no amount of reduced vulnerability can absolutely stop a sexual assault.
“The only person who can prevent a sexual assault from happening is the perpetrator,” Ryan said.
She believes that the answer to solving rape culture is through bystander intervention, or those not involved in a potential assault stepping up to keep the assault from happening. Her ultimate goal is to have no cases of sexual assault—reported or unreported.
Ryan said, “I’m essentially trying to work myself out of a job right now.”