A data table compiled by the Washington Post on Sunday illustrates exactly how MSU’s campus, with .41 sexual offenses occurring for every 1,000 students, compares to other universities in Michigan and the U.S.
With 49 sexual offenses reported between 2010 and 2012, MSU occupies the 11th highest spot, right behind four other Big Ten schools. Pennsylvania State University holds the highest number of offenses; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, has the third highest; followed by Ohio State University with the fourth and Indiana University, Bloomington, with the seventh highest.
The table showcases data collected from about 1,570 public and private nonprofit universities scattered throughout the nation. The colleges had previously submitted data to the Education Department under a campus safety law requiring them to disclose crime on campus, called The Clery Act.
Out of the more than 1,500 schools on the table, about 45 percent did not report any sexual offenses during the three-year period of 2010-2012. MSU, with a reported enrollment of 48,783 students, had 49 cases reported during those three years, but coordinator for the MSU Counseling Center Sexual Assault Program Shari Murgittroyd said the number is small compared to how many could have actually happened.
“Depending on which research you look at, one-fourth or one-fifth of women will be sexually assaulted during their time at university,” she said. “Of the more than 40,000 students enrolled at MSU, 51 percent are female. One-fourth of that amount would be in the thousands. ... The small numbers don’t surprise me — I think they’re a reflection of our culture and what we know. It’s not disturbing, it’s what I expect. Most don’t report these crimes.”
MSU’s number of reported forcible sexual assualt cases, which includes rape, sodomy, fondling and sexual assault with an object, continues to rise each year. A total of 14 sexual offenses were reported on campus in 2010 and 15 were reported in 2011. The number jumped to 20 in 2012.
Department of Education Public Affairs specialist Jane Glickman said in an email it is evident that more students and advocates are filing Clery Act complaints and being productive on their own behalf than there used to be.
“MSU ranks well to the extent of seeing the number reported,” Paulette Granberry Russell, the senior advisor to the President for Diversity and Title IX coordinator, said. “The goal we’re all trying to achieve, consistent with what the Department of Education wants to see, is an increase in the number of students who are comfortable to come forward.”
MSU has taken steps to ensure students, especially incoming freshmen, feel safe enough to come forward if they believe they have been the victim of, or witnessed, a sexual offense. All incoming freshmen are required to participate in the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Prevention Program, or SARV, where students are educated about sexual assault, reporting entities, available student resources and myths regarding sexual assault.
Incoming freshmen also are required to watch an e-learning video called Sexual Assault First-year Education, or SAFE.
Murgittroyd said she feels the more the university educates its students about sexual assault, the more students will feel safe enough to report it if it happens to them.
MSU had the 10th highest number of reported cases per 1,000 students out of 49 Michigan schools. Of those schools, 20 had zero reported alleged cases.
“A lot of other schools might not feel that support,” Murgittroyd said. “And I don’t know for sure, but maybe that’s why there are zeros reported.”
