Colleges and universities in the U.S. underreport the number of sexual assaults on their campuses, according to a new report published by the American Psychological Association.
Researchers found that schools downplay the number of instances, even after they have been fined for violating federal reporting law.
“When it comes to sexual assault and rape, the norm for universities and colleges is to downplay the situation and the numbers,” University of Kansas law professor Dr. Corey Rayburn Yung said about the study’s findings in a statement. “The result is, students at many universities continue to be attacked and victimized, and punishment isn’t meted out to the rapists and sexual assaulters.”
Yung studied the sexual assault reporting by 31 colleges audited by the Education Department. During the years the Education Department conducted the audits, the number of sexual assaults reported by these schools increased by about 44 percent, according to Yung. The number of sexual assaults reported dropped again in years the government did not audit their reports.
As ThinkProgress noted, colleges and universities are required to report instances of rape under the Clery Act.
