Campus leads in building ‘culture of reporting’
UNC Charlotte is leading nationally in proactively educating students about sexual assaults and providing them resources for reporting and receiving support and assistance. Recent media coverage has noted an increase in reports of sexual assaults based on federal data. While significant, this increase in reports strongly suggests that the University’s education efforts are working.
“Having a relatively high number of reports of sexual assault is not necessarily a bad thing. We believe it means we are creating a ‘culture of reporting’ among students. This suggests individuals feel safe reporting that they were assaulted, and they feel the University will take those reports seriously and follow up appropriately,” said David Spano, associate vice chancellor for health services and programs.
“It is well-known that sexual assaults historically have been underreported (on college campuses nationwide), and we have a process that collects data for a federally required report that we think is a reasonable accounting of reported assaults. The University is being transparent about these data,” Spano explained.
Federal data, collected to meet Clery Act compliance and which has been public information since October 2015, showed nearly 100 college and universities – including UNC Charlotte – had at least 10 reports of rape on their campuses in 2014. The Charlotte Observer recently published a Washington Post article that reported on this data. Measured by sexual assault reports per thousand students, UNC Charlotte is not in the top tier of universities. Data from 2015 will be available this October.
“Our per capita rate of reported sexual assaults is only 1/6 that of the no. 10 ranked school. We appear to be much more near the middle of the pack on the per capita measure,” said Spano.
UNC Charlotte is a national leader in education and services related to sexual assault. The University has invested significantly in Title IX investigation and has widely communicated to the campus community the importance of reporting sexual assaults and how to do so safely.
Another advantage of having a culture of reporting is that, when someone reports they have been assaulted, they can be offered support services the campus has available – for example, services provided by the Counseling Center, Center for Wellness Promotion, Student Health Center and Dean of Students Office. Campus police officers also are active in educating students about personal safety and security measures.
In a recent interview with Time Warner Cable News, Christine Reed Davis, dean of students, said the fact that more students are reporting sexual assault is a good thing.
“We’re creating that culture of reporting,” Davis told TWC News. “Because for a long time, people either didn’t want to come forward because they were nervous about what was going to happen, or they didn’t know where to go.”