Yale and UConn top in state for burglary, rape

Statistics for 2018 similar to those from 2016

Connecticut colleges reported more than 100 rapes and burglaries in 2018 on and near their campuses in 2018, according to recently released annual safety reports.

Yale, the state’s second largest school, reported 26 rapes, the highest in the state, followed by the largest, University of Connecticut’s main campus in Storrs, which reported 23.

The numbers at both schools are close to their 2016 totals after dipping in 2017, and at both schools, the majority of the assaults occurred in oncampus residential areas.

The two schools also reported the highest number of burglaries: 36 at Yale, and 17 at UConn.

Burglary and rape were the two most common crimes on and around Connecticut campuses in 2018, according to the reports, which schools are required to publish by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act.

Named for a Lehigh University student who was killed on campus in 1986, the law is intended to provide transparency about safety at colleges and universities. Schools are required to publish reports detailing crimes and incidents that occur on campus, at offcampus locations owned and used by schools, and on public property adjacent to the campus, like streets and sidewalks.

In 2018, the state’s public and private colleges and universities reported 143 burglaries, 122 rapes and 68 incidents of fondling, the most common criminal offenses. They also reported 68 cases of dating violence and 71 of domestic violence.

While Connecticut does not distinguish between the two and includes dating violence as a type of domestic violence, the federal reporting requirements separate the two: domestic violence refers to crimes against spouses, intimate partners or family members, while dating violence is defined as being committed by someone “who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim.” Some schools report the statistics separately, while others, like UConn, list all acts of dating violence under the domestic violence category.

National movements, like Me Too and Time’s Up, have brought about more conversations about sexual assault and domestic violence, Sacred Heart University Title IX coordinator Leonora Campbell said. The heightened awareness, and better promotion of ways to report those crimes may be one reason that numbers are rising, she said.

The number of rapes reported at Sacred Heart has jumped from 4 in 2016 to 9 in 2018, and the number of dating violence cases has climbed from 3 to 10 in that same time.

That’s “unfortunate but also positive,” Campbell said, because it reflects that more students are reporting the crime and are aware of the resources available to them.

Schools are required to provide descriptions of their crime prevention and education programs in the reports, with many pointing to training and campaigns held annually.

“UConn provides prevention, awareness and risk reduction programs and campaigns to the university community on sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking in a wide array of formats throughout the year,” UConn Associate Vice President of the Office of Institutional Equity Elizabeth Conklin said in a statement. “These include new student and employee orientation sessions, topic specific seminars and workshops, awarenessraising events, departmental meetings and webinars, electronic communications, and the universitywide Title IX website. These trainings also include information on consent, reporting options, resources and bystander intervention.”

Connecticut schools also reported 48 motor vehicle thefts and 42 aggravated