Failures for colleges

Texas State University failed to report at least 30 sexual assaults that occurred on its San Marcos campus in 2016 and 2017. Unfortunately, that’s not unusual. Underreporting campus rapes is common across America, and too often when attacks are reported, the victims have a hard time finding justice.

Rice University apologized last month for mishandling a sexual assault complaint after the victim detailed the mistake in an anonymous commentary published in the Rice Thresher, the school’s student newspaper. Her assailant was suspended, but he avoided that sentence by earning enough academic credits to graduate early.

The victim said it took months to find the courage to report her rape and go through the arduous process of having the case adjudicated on campus. She didn’t find out her attacker had graduated until 10 months after he had been found guilty of violating the Student Code of Conduct.

“Students are told repeatedly that a Rice degree is more than just a degree,” she wrote. “It means that you are hardworking, that you are capable, that you are conscientious. It apparently, though, says nothing about whether or not you are a rapist.”

Rice President David Leebron and Bridget Gorman, dean of undergraduates, issued an apology to the victim for failing to keep her informed. They said the university would establish a policy to make sure a student isn’t allowed to graduate before his suspension goes into effect.

The Rice case is an example of what college students often go through when they report sexual assaults.

It also illustrates why Texas State’s undercount is so egregious. The school reported eight sexual assaults in 2016 and 2017 when the true figure was 38. Texas State blamed the incorrect data on deficiencies in its crime reporting system that are being corrected. The university reported 19 rapes in 2018.

Reporting sexual assault statistics to the Department of Education is required under the Jeanne Clery Act, which Congress passed in 1990 to improve campus security.

Almost 30 years later, you would think most colleges and universities are accurately reporting that data, but the opposite appears to be true.

The American Association of University Women says 89 percent of 11,000 colleges and universities surveyed in 2016 didn’t report a single rape.

That contradicts surveys by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, which showed 23 percent of female and 5 percent of male undergraduate students had been raped or sexually assaulted. RAINN said only 20 percent of female college students reported their assaults to police, but they may have told their school.

Sadly, what happens when students do report an assault to their college may become more unpredictable under new rules proposed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to replace Obama administration’s guidelines.

No longer will colleges be required to investigate incidents in off-campus student housing, fraternity houses or local bars. No longer will they be required to investigate an incident if the victim failed to report it to “an official who has the authority to institute corrective measures.” Who qualifies as that “official” isn’t explained.

The new rules will also allow the accused to cross-examine the accuser. The Obama rules deemed such confrontations unnecessary for a college to decide whether a student had broken its conduct rules. Fear of intimidation is one of the main reasons sexual assault victims don’t report being attacked.

The frequency of sexual assaults on or near college campuses is alarming. Alcohol use plays a large role. At least 50 percent of student sexual assaults and 90 percent perpetrated by an acquaintance of the victim involve alcohol. The failure of colleges and universities to respond appropriately makes that problem worse.

Predators become repeat offenders when they see they can game the system. That means colleges and universities must not shirk their responsibility to keep careful records of sexual assaults and make sure their policies to handle these incidents don’t leave sexual assault victims feeling like they have been violated again.