More than 1,300 colleges out of over 2,200 colleges surveyed had no reports of rape on campus in 2014, according to a review of federal campus safety data by The Washington Post.
While on the surface it may seem like a positive stride towards the end of sexual assault, given the current social climate, it is naive of us to think such things. It instead highlights that a lot of people are likely not reporting their rapes.
The review shows the divide between how much we think sexual assault is occurring on college campuses and the actual number of reports that colleges and universities receive.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women are sexually assaulted in college. A more recent survey has placed the statistic at one in four. In short, a college that has zero rapes does not seem likely at all.
Laura L. Dunn, founder and executive director of SurvJustice, told The Washington Post that sexual violence on campus is something that society doesn’t want to deal with.
“Any time you have a zero, it is not an indicator of safety,” Dunn said. “It is indicator of comfort in reporting.”
