Boston College’s Clery Act crime statistics were released Friday morning. The numbers notably detailed an increase in reported rapes, fondling incidents, and hate crimes in 2017.
The report cites 39 instances of rape, with 34 of those crimes occurring in on-campus student housing. The increase in reported incidents experienced its largest jump this year: 28 reports of rape were made in 2016, 23 in 2015, 22 in 2014, 10 in 2013, five in 2012, and seven in 2011.
Instances of reported fondling increased to 26. Six such incidents were reported last year. One incident of fondling was reported in 2015, and one in 2014
In 2017, there were five recorded hate crimes, which were recorded as racial bias. The Clery Act defines a hate crime as “crimes whose reports include factual evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the actual or perceived race, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, or disability of the victim.” One hate crime occurred in 2015, and one in 2014.
Enacted in 1990, the Clery Act requires that all colleges and universities who participate in federal financial aid programs to document and disclose statistics about crime that occurs on and in the vicinity of their campus.
BC’s peer schools have also seen general reporting increases. As The Heights wrote in 2016, the number of sexual assault cases reported at Georgetown University in 2014, 2015, and 2016 were 14, 13, and 23, respectively. At Fordham University, the number of sexual assault incidents was seven in 2014, five in 2015, and 15 in 2016. At Harvard University, the number of these incidents was 43 in 2014, 54 in 2015, and 43 in 2016. Tufts University reported that the number of sexual assault incidents was 14 in 2014, 25 in 2015, and 22 in 2016.
Other statistics recorded in the Clery Act report include numbers on burglaries, liquor law violations, drug law offenses, arson, and domestic violence, with decreases or little change in each offense.
Liquor law violations referred to the Office of the Dean of Students for disciplinary action declined from 1,573 in 2016 to 1,461 in 2017. Fordham University recorded 672 liquor law violations in 2017. Georgetown University’s Clery Act statistics detail 333 students referred to disciplinary proceedings for alcohol violations. The University of Notre Dame referred 620 students to disciplinary proceedings for violating liquor laws in 2016.
There has been one reported liquor law arrest in each of the past three years at BC.
There were 177 cases of Drug Law Violations referred to the Office of the Dean of Students in 2017. Last year’s figure was 176.
Weapons law violations deferred to the Dean of Students’ office declined from six to two last year. Fifteen burglaries were reported in 2016, and four were reported in 2017.
Correction (10/3/18): This article previously incorrectly stated how many Notre Dame students were referred to disciplinary proceedings for alcohol violations, as well as referring to the wrong year the stats were collected in.
