School reports increase in stalking

Towson says previous data revised because sexual assaults were undercounted

Complaints about stalking on the campus of Towson University spiked five-fold last year, according to an annual school review of crime incident reporting, as the university also revised the previous three years’ reports to show that sexual assault and dating violence had been undercounted.

Towson’s 2017 Clery Act report — named for the federal statute that requires reporting of crime incidents on U.S. campuses — shows that most categories of crime reported at the university held steady between 2016 and 2017.

But reports of stalking jumped from five in 2016 to 25 in 2017. The school also received 13 reports of dating violence incidents in 2017, six more than the year before.

University officials and experts attribute at least some of the increase to increased awareness.

There has been an uptick in reports related to sexual assault and harassment nationwide — in part because of “increased attention to gender-based violence,” said Laura Egan, senior director of programs at the Clery Center in Strafford, Pa., a nonprofit that educates college campuses about their reporting under the Clery Act.

“There’s definitely an increased social awareness of what sexual harassment and assault are,” Egan said.

Leah Cox, vice president for the university’s Office of Inclusion and Institutional Equity, said Towson has made sexual assault prevention education a focus since her office was created by university President Kim Schatzel in 2017.

“Students are now more aware of where to go, what to do, who’s going to respond to them and how to report,” Cox said.

That initiative, Cox said, could be the reason that with nearly three months left in 2018, reports of sexual assaults at Towson University appear to be higher than previous years. The university has received 19 reports of sexual assaults on campus since the start of 2018, according to online crime logs, up from nine in 2017.

University spokesman Sean Welsh said that of the reports this year, all but two investigations have been suspended — meaning investigators concluded there are “no more avenues to investigate.” Welsh said police also list cases as “suspended” when they fall out of the university police department’s jurisdiction, for instance, when a student reports an assault that happened off campus.

Two cases in 2018 were “cleared by exception,” which Welsh said happens when law enforcement has enough evidence to make an arrest and charge a defendant, but is unable to do so because of “a circumstance outside the control of law enforcement.”

For the Towson Precinct as a whole, reports of rape have risen by more than 50 percent, according to Baltimore County police. In the first half of 2018, 23 rapes were reported, up from 15 a year earlier.

Cox said the rise in reports may be a sign that people are more willing to come forward.

“For them to feel comfortable enough to come into this office and say ‘I want something done,’ that’s a good thing,” she said.

Towson’s Clery Act report also notes revisions to reports that were submitted for 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The revised numbers show additional reports of sexual assault and dating violence between 2014 and 2016. In 2015, for instance, the university initially said it received seven reports of rape or “forced fondling.” That number has been revised to12 incidents. The 2016 count was revised from seven to 11.

Dating violence numbers also were revised upward — from three to 12 reports in 2014, and from two reports to seven in 2016. Aggravated assault numbers were revised in 2014 from five to eight.

Cox said her office regularly reviews the incidents its employees handle and compares them to the university police department’s statistics. This year they found discrepancies and informed the university police, she said.

The university’s website states that the errors “occurred due to a lack of coordination in the collection of data, and not a failure to address or respond to incidents.”

“We were responding to every report,” Cox said.

Egan said campuses are required to send revised reports and explain why they are being reissued, as well as resubmit their data to the U.S. Department of Education. She said colleges should be “making an effort to note why there’s a discrepancy and correcting it on a systemic level.”

Welsh said the university sent an email to students letting them know of the revisions.