The Center for Public Integrity recently published an investigative series “Sexual Assault on Campuses.” The series examines three critical areas students encounter: (1) the judicial proceedings involved in sexual assault cases, (2) the institutional barriers that curb reporting of sexual violence and (3) the collection of statistics. The Center notes how:
“Available data suggest that, on many campuses, far more sexual offenses are occurring than are reflected in the official Clery numbers…But many survey respondents affirmed assertions from critics that colleges and universities are ducking bad publicity by exploiting weaknesses in the Clery Act and ignoring their clinic numbers, thus keeping official statistics low.”
Livia Rojas, MSSW, is the Training and Resource Coordinator in the Campus Program at the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) where she provides training and technical assistance to recipients of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Grant to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking on college and university campuses across the United States and territories. Livia has eleven years of working to advance human rights and student organizing through practice and research.
