Rapes on Campus: Why Did Brown Report 2200% More Assaults than URI?

Rapes on Campus: Why Did Brown Report 2200% More Assaults than URI?

Brown University reported 43 rapes on campus in 2014, which was 2200% higher than URI’s 3 reported assaults, factoring in student population.    

Does Brown have a rape problem, is URI under-reporting — or are their students just not coming forward? 

“So we asked ourselves the same question,” said Mary Jo Gonzales, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs at URI. “We have a sexual assault response team who meets every Monday and reviews cases and offers a case management approach to help us.  We took a comprehensive look at why we had a decrease in numbers, our pattern has been steadily going down. One [reason] is that we saw an uptick of off-campus sexual assaults that are not reported under the Clery Act. We have a sizable off campus population, roughly three thousand to five thousand students, who live in Narragansett were activities can happen.”

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Gonzales said that the off-campus divide did not stop the school from taking a proactive approach, however. 

“Last fall, we heard about a series of [off-campus] incidents, so we sent out a notification to all students, and that happened on Oct 8, 2015,” said Gonzales. "We said we would still [take action] on campus if victims come forward. We talked about our violence prevention unit. We weren’t obligated, but we felt compelled.”

Gonzales said that in the past, the school has addressed off-campus assaults from a student conduct perspective, but could not offer further information. 

“Yes, we’ve dealt with off-campus assaults under student conduct issues  -- both the complainant and respondent, who is being accused. We use those terms because the school isn’t tasked with criminal litigation,” said Gonzales. “The media is entitled to some information, but not all. Sometimes students don't come forward because they're afraid for this information being made public, and this is the battle that we struggle with. We're very concerned. We tell students that there are certain people we have to disclose the dean of students, and the police [only] when the student want to pursue this route.  They're making the decision of a trauma-informed response.”

Student Advocate

Hannah Woodhouse, a URI senior majoring in psychology and gender studies, with a minor in justice law, is the student coordinator of PLEASE, which stands for “peers learning, educating, and supporting everyone.”

“It’s a diverse group dedicated to ending sexual violence on campus, we do a lot of events -- Take Back the Night, for example. It’s a social justice organization,” said Woodhouse. “I was extremely happy that there was a group dedicated to this, and that it was so specific. I do think that URI does a great job.  Some of our football and basketball players were recently part of the “No More” campaign, which addresses domestic violence as well, which is important.”

“One of things I think is unique about URI is we’ve got such a large base are commuters, students who don’t live on campus.  They might not know who to report [sexual assault] to,” said Woodhouse. “I would say it's on a case-by-case basis, depending on the victim. It's a very personal thing that happens, a lot of people aren't comfortable talking about it. My group and others on campus are trying to fix this, by talking about rape culture, the Brock Turner case. There’s a lot of victim blaming -- they might not want to go through that. So we’re trying to change that, and it seems like there's been a more acceptance of that.” 

“It’s difficult to address the off-campus issue, but no matter where they live, we want them to know our resources are available to them,” said Woodhouse. “It's hard if you’re off campus, URI police technically can’t interview [students] as it's out of their jurisdiction. But URI makes it mandatory to learn about the resources, what's consent, what's assault— just preventing the problem before it happens is our main focus-- so when kids move off campus, that sticks with them.”

Responding to Brown

Following the revelation that Brown was highest in the nation for sexual assaults reported, officials from the school were quick to offer their take that the number reflecting a level of “trust” at the Ivy League school. 

"In addition to efforts to prevent incidents, Brown has taken significant action to improve our approach to the investigation and resolution of reports,” said Brian Clark, Director of News and Editorial Development at Brown University. "The fact that 43 incidents were reported indicates that we are building trust among our campus community members in how the university responds to reported incidents of sexual and gender-based violence."

Gonzalez noted Brown’s language of “building trust,” and that she believes in URI’s approach to addressing sexual assault on campus. 

“There's always a need to educate students about this topic. We'll never stop putting this as a high priority on this campus,” said Gonzalez. “The second part of this equation is numbers ebb and flow, sometimes they are under-reported, sometimes they happen off campus. The important part of what needs to happen is to assess what's happened, and I feel that's a more reflective way to build trust, to let them know we're hearing them, and giving them what they need for spaces and services, and I think we handled [that] last fall, by reaching out to all students."