Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual violence or assault. Resources are available here.
IU Public Safety published its annual security and fire safety report Sept. 29. The report includes policy statements and three years' worth of statistics about certain types of crimes that were reported to have occurred on campus, in public property immediately adjacent to campus and property owned by the university.
IU Public Safety produced the report in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Act, which requires colleges and universities to report campus crime data, support victims of violence and publicly outline the policies and procedures implemented to improve campus safety according to the Clery Center website. Colleges and universities that maintain on-campus housing are also required to collect fire data and publish an annual fire-safety report.
The number of sexual assaults reported on the Bloomington campus — which include rape and fondling — has increased each year since 2020, according to the annual report. There were 13 reports of sexual assault in 2018, according to an IDS article. This increased to 19 reports in 2019. In 2022, 38 total rapes were reported to have occurred on campus, 37 of which occurred in a residential facility, according to the report. This is an increase from the 24 total reported on-campus in 2021, which includes 19 that occurred in residential facilities.
Non-campus rapes, however, decreased from seven in 2021 to five in 2022.
The Bloomington campus also saw an increase in reports of fondling, where one’s private body parts are touched by another person without consent for sexual gratification, with 35 total offenses occurring on campus in 2022 compared to 14 total offenses in 2021. Of those reported in 2022, 30 occurred in residential facilities, an increase from the 10 reported in residential facilities in 2021.
There was a decrease, however, in non-campus fondling reports from four reports in 2021 to two reports in 2022.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, more than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report their assault.
Reports of domestic violence and dating violence also increased from 2021 to 2022 on the Bloomington campus, according to the report. Total on-campus reports of domestic violence rose from eight in 2021 to 13 in 2022 while non-campus reports rose from zero in 2021 to eight in 2022. Total dating violence reports increased by 6.6% on Bloomington’s campus from 2021 to 2022.
The campus also saw decreases in several types of theft, with reports of total on-campus burglaries dropping from 17 in 2021 to 15 in 2022 and total reports of motor vehicle thefts going from 13 in 2021 to eight in 2022.
The total number of on-campus robberies, however, increased from five in 2021 to six in 2022.
Reports of non-campus motor vehicle thefts rose from one in 2021 to eight last year, and reports of non-campus burglaries also rose from four to 13.
The number of on-campus and non-campus reports of aggravated assaults and weapons law violations have remained largely the same since 2021. In 2022, there were a total of 12 reports of aggravated assaults and eight arrests for weapons law violations.
There were two incidents classified as hate crimes, one act of vandalism characterized by a bias of gender and one instance of intimidation characterized by a bias of religion reported on campus last year.
Public Infromation Officer Hannah Skibba said in an email statement that IU Public Safety is committed to providing the greatest possible degree of safety for the entire IU community. The annual report, she said, not only provides information on the university policies, procedures, practices and programs concerning safety and security, it demonstrates IU Public Safety’s dedication to transparency.
A list of resources is available here if you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment or abuse.
