Reports Of Sexual Assaults On UC Campuses Up By 50%
(CBS SF) -- Sexual assaults on University of California campuses rose by nearly 50 percent last year.
UC campus officials received 199 reports of forcible sex offenses, up from 133 in 2012. Every single school except UC San Francisco reported an increase.
The data comes from the federal Clery Act, which requires colleges and universities to report crime statistics on or near their campuses. It also requires schools to develop prevention policies and ensure victims their basic rights.
With about 240,000 students, the UC system's rate of reported sexual assaults last year was about 1 per 1,200 students. Over the course of five years, that equals to about 1 sexual assault report for every 240 students.
UC Berkeley is among 55 colleges and universities—big and small, public and private—repeatedly scrutinized over their handling of sexual abuse complaints.
Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights filed a formal investigation, charging that university procedures discouraged victims from reporting sexual assaults and favored the accused assailants. A month later, UC announced a revamped sexual violence and harassment policy that strengthens campus reporting requirements and mandates new training and education across the system.
On Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that makes California the first in the nation to define when "yes means yes" and adopt requirements for colleges to follow when investigating sexual assault reports.
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