Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of sexual assault. Resources are available here.
IU Police Department received two separate sexual assault reports from the Title IX Office on Dec 8.
IUPD Public Information Officer Hannah Skibba said in an email that IUPD received a report from the Title IX Office regarding a staff member who had been sexually assaulted Nov. 15 at the Indiana Memorial Union.
IUPD received a separate report from the Title IX Office regarding a student who had been sexually assaulted on Aug. 27, 2022, at Eigenmann Hall, Skibba said in an email.
Both cases are being referred to university officials.
According to IUPD’s crime log, there have been 19 rapes and 13 sexual batteries reported on campus since Aug. 17.
From the start of the fall semester until Thanksgiving break — a period known as the Red Zone — students on college campuses are at higher risk for sexual assault.
According to IU’s 2023 Security and Public Safety Report, there were 38 rapes reported on IU Bloomington’s campus and five rapes reported off-campus in 2022. Off-campus cases include incidents that occurred at any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization, buildings owned or controlled by an institution directly supporting IU’s educational purposes and properties frequently used by students not within the geographic area of the institution. Off-campus incidents also include incidents occurring on public property within or immediately adjacent to campus.
In the same year, there were 35 cases of fondling, defined as the unconsensual touching of private body parts of another person for the purpose of sexual gratification, reported on Bloomington’s campus, with an additional two occurring off-campus.
These numbers are a marked increase from previous years. In 2021, there were a combined 31 cases of rape and 21 cases of fondling on and off-campus. In 2020, there were 25 reports of rape and seven reports of fondling, although on-campus instruction paused mid-March that year due to the pandemic and did not resume until the fall.
Despite these numbers, more than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report their assaults, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
A list of resources is available here if you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment or abuse.
