New York State Releases Semester of Campus Assault Data

Three years ago, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law requiring colleges and universities to create a holistic system for addressing student complaints of sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, and stalking. Last week, the state released the first set of interim data, self-reported by schools, tracking those complaints. The data includes every incident reported to each campus’ Title IX office between January and May of 2018.

WNYC found that only 24% of students chose to pursue a formal claim through their university’s judicial process. Of the cases that were processed, approximately 60% were closed prematurely because the complainant withdrew the report or an informal resolution was reached. An individual was found responsible in approximately 6% of cases, although some cases may still be unresolved.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center estimates that over 90 percent college sexual assault incidents go unreported, so these numbers likely represent a small fraction of the violence that is occurring on campuses. Additionally, colleges and universities with higher numbers of reported incidents do not necessarily have more sexual violence happening on their campuses, according to experts familiar with the Title IX process. Rather, it is possible that those campuses have an effective method of educating students about the reporting process. High reporting numbers could also reflect a student body that trusts the institution with such sensitive information.

Search for a specific school with our interactive database. For a more in depth explanation of how to understand this data, listen to the segment on this page.