Brown University (above) and Connecticut University were home to the highest number of reported rapes in America in 2014. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Clery Report — which now uses the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting analysis’ definition of rape — forty-three students at both Brown and U-Conn told authorities they were raped. (Dartmouth was third on the list at 42 reported rapes.) Both Brown (9200 students) and U-Conn (26,500 students) are “gun free” zones; students, faculty and staff are prohibited from carrying firearms on campus. Please note . . .
Correlation does not equal causation. There are many factors contributing to this statistic. (For more context see the “top ten” universities below, by absolute numbers and per head of student population.) Also clock the fact that many if not most campus rapes and incidents of sexual assault go unreported. The stats may reflect the likelihood of rape reports at a given university, rather than their real number.
That said, how do you stop campus rape?
There are numerous methods for protecting young men and women from this heinous crime, from awareness campaigns to better lighting to campus supplied transportation to increased patrolling by security and many, many more. But there is no question that a firearm is an excellent tool to stop rape after prevention has failed, as the attacker begins his or her assault.
That’s without considering the [admittedly unquantifiable] deterrent effect of armed students on potential sexual predators. I’ll go so far as to say that Universities that deny Americans their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms are enabling rapists by reducing their risk of ballistic intervention.
Meanwhile, Harvard University (33 reported rapes in 2014) welcomed the Clery Report’s rape stats for 2014, the first year they were broken-out of the general findings. “We are pleased that the number of reported sexual assaults and other forms of sexual harassment, which are traditionally underreported, also has increased,” University spokesperson Tania M. deLuzuriaga wrote in an email to thecrimson.com.
Responding to the report, vox.com claim that Ranking colleges based on reported campus rapes is a horrible, dangerous idea. “If colleges know they’ll be vilified for high numbers of rape cases, they have a strong incentive to create a culture where students are subtly discouraged from reporting.” The scary part? That may actually be true.
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Total number of reported on-campus rapes
Brown: 43
U-Conn.: 43
Dartmouth College: 42
Wesleyan University: 37
University of Virginia: 35
Harvard: 33
University of North Carolina at Charlotte: 32
Rutgers-New Brunswick: 32
University of Vermont: 27
Stanford: 26
Rape reports per 1,000 students
Reed College: 12.9
Wesleyan: 11.5
Swarthmore College: 11.0
Knox College: 10.0
Williams College: 8.9
Pomona College: 8.5
Bowdoin College: 8.3
Gallaudet University: 8.1
Beloit College: 6.9
Dartmouth: 6.7
If you believe these rape statistics….I have some vaccines to sell you.
It’s mostly pre-operative, trans-sexual lesbians (born male) attacking unwitting post-operative, trans-sexual males (born female) who inadvertently entered the wrong-gendered bathroom.
Could happen to anyone.
Statistical shenanigans aside I never understood why rapes or any other criminal acts appear to be handled within the structure of the university as if they are Vatican-esque entities unto themselves. Don’t see your RA or meet with a school counselor. Call the @#$%ing cops and report the crime. Going to the university personnel just invites coverup, corruption and retaliatory action upon yourself and it makes it seem like the school is somehow culpable or responsible. Like don;t go to Brown because Brown harbors rapists!! That doesn’t make any @#$%ing sense at all but you know hordes of imbeciles will come to that conclusion and the schools aren’t helping to diminish that perception any when they try to handle these things internally.
Welcome to the world of Title IX.
Girls Act like a LADY – don’t drink to stupidity/keep at least ONE whit about you. don’t be doing drugs/keep at least ONE whit about you. Put the stupid cell phone down/keep at least ONE whit about you. Don’t dress like/act like a cheap hooker.
Then get a backbone and defend yourself. Your grandma would have but you’re a delicate snowflake who can’t? Perhaps start packing?
First, most Universities are “gun free” so the head-line is meaningless scaremongering – we’re better than that. Second, The top five Universities on that list have all been steeped in Social Justice Warrior Drama, so those numbers are being inflated by baseless accusations, for the sake of the drama, even more so that usual.
I thought with some notable exception in texas, that ALL universities were gun free zones.
Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin have some form of campus carry.
From the National Conference of State Legislatures:
“Currently, there are 18 states that ban carrying a concealed weapon on a college campus: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina and Wyoming.
“In 23 states the decision to ban or allow concealed carry weapons on campuses is made by each college or university individually: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
“Because of recent state legislation and court rulings, eight states now have provisions allowing the carrying of concealed weapons on public postsecondary campuses. These states are Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Not included in above list, Arkansas and Tennessee allow certain faculty members to carry weapons on campus but these laws do not extend to students or the general public. ”
Utah outright prohibits public universities from banning firearms on campus. Private universities I believe still have discretion. I’ve never attempted to carry on BYU campus as I started carrying well after the last time I’ve been to Utah, but I suppose I could ask someone who actually knows.
That should have said that Utah outright prohibits CONCEALED carry from being banned on campus. Lest someone thinks open carry is copacetic.
I and the professor I worked for as a TA during graduate school always carried on Utah State. He liked his S&W and I my Glock, and I never felt safer in any classroom.
Looking at we one who didn’t ask to be looked at, really *is* the same thing as raping them.
Also, Brown University (for example) is in Rhode Island where tasers and stun guns are banned. Their number of rapes might decrease a little if they weren’t so completely opposed to self defense.
Although, I’d bet serial rapist would be far more likely to retire if their main fear were being shot instead of just tased or maced.
Robert, while I too think campus carry is an excellent idea, I think it wouldn’t matter too much for lowering campus rape . The majority of these rapes are not the kind involving some assailant jumping out of the bushes to ambush young ladies (or men) walking back to their dorm. Most of these rapes are alcohol and drug related — women (and some men) either drinking too much or being drugged and then taken advantage of when unconscious. I do not think this is a case where self defense with a firearm would do too much — it’s more of an issue with students not knowing their own limits with drugs, or being at frat parties they shouldn’t be at in the first place.
Or more often changing mind ex post facto.
You mean these coed mini-cities with rivers of alcohol running through them have rape problems? Say it ain’t so! Next thing you know Stacey might wake up next to the wrong Chad from the football team!
Not that I’m downplaying rape on campus, some women equate regret with rape.
I think this is more of a blackout drunk at a wrong place, wrong time issue than a gun one.
“blackout drunk at the wrong place” isn’t regret, it’s still rape. Regret is, “shit, I didn’t use protection and now I’m/she’s pregnant” or “damn, now I have the clap.” That’s regret. Or the 9 that you slept with at that party texts you and you find out they’re actually a 2. That’s regret.
The vast majority people who end up blackout drunk manage to NOT rape their fellow partiers, because, you know, even shit-faced they’re still decent people. Getting blackout drunk does not create consent, it creates unconsciousness. I’m a father of four daughters. If any of them got blackout drunk and woke up in the morning and found that someone had violated them, I’d pound the hell out of the person who suggested that they “just regretted it.” I also have a son. I’m trying to raise him to understand that if he finds himself in a position where he’s with someone who’s vulnerable, that’s not a circumstance where he’s been given consent by default. And if HE’S ever blackout drunk, HE hasn’t given consent either.
Your so-called regret IS downplaying rape on campus, regardless of how you spin it.
Totally, I’m not someone who equates regret with rape. I’m just saying that there are a lot of bimbos on campus that like to cry wolf.
And I hope someone who makes a false report like that gets the book thrown at them. Because they make it harder for actual victims to get the justice they deserve.
Tell your daughters to to stop drinking so damn much.
They don’t drink, they’re all still children/teens. I also teach them not to put themselves in positions where they can’t defend themselves, so yeah, “don’t get blackout drunk” is pretty heavily implied. The one who could understand what “blackout drunk” would even mean, already has a pretty solid grasp on what entails risky behavior.
That said, even if someone gets blackout drunk, they don’t “have it coming.” And maybe it’s not what you’re implying, but it sure sounds like you’re making excuses for the sorts of men who would rape a woman just because she’s drunk.
Well she certainly provided opportunity where otherwise it would have not existed. Who made that choice? Or playing the unicorn mickey card?
So a man and a woman with equal ABV levels sleep together, both way too drunk to make ratonal decisions….
Who was raped?
By default society say the man raped the woman, for no logical reason. And I am NOT ok with that. Both parties are responsible and if anyone is charged with rape it should be BOTH.
No one said a drunk girl “had it coming” but maybe the 10th shot or beer while she was with that cute guy she likes was a subconscious and repressed desires coming to surface. Maybe she can’t admit to herself sober that she wanted to be with that guy, because of his social standing or what have you. This applies for males as well.
Two people get too drunk to make good decisions and have sex. They BOTH could not consent. They BOTH raped. And they BOTH were raped.
*brace for incoming white knights who thinks woman can do no wrong*
I am talking generally here, this has nothing to do with your individual daughters, as it sounds like you are raising them right and I commend you for that.
I agree. If they’re both too drunk to consent, they’re both at fault. And you’re also right, society tends to hold the male to blame for it. There’s a dichotomy being propped up between men and women that shouldn’t be there, where the woman can only be a victim and the man can only be the aggressor. I am 100% on the same page as you on that point.
But victim-blaming wears me right out. Whether it’s blaming the victim for using his gun and killing an attacker after making a stupid decision to be in a bad part of town after dark, or blaming a college girl for getting raped after having too much to drink at a frat party. There’s no difference.
How do you help prevent rape/sexual assault? Well one way would be to inform women to throw that “Strong independent woman” crap that tells them they can go to a party alone and drink all they want with no repercussions out the window. Another way would be to tell women that hand to hand *and* firearm training is a worthwhile endeavor.
Ah but according to college feminists I’m surely a huge bigot for even mentioning such things, so what do I know?
Where does this assertion that rapes are under-reported come from? Is it based in reality? Does it account for the egregious over-reporting of alleged rapes that turn out to be fabrications?
Ban penises?
Brown University is the beating heart of the left wing lunatic fringe among American academic institutions. It’s also the Ivy League school of choice for students who aren’t good enough to get into an Ivy league school. Knowing the kind of trash the school attracts, I’m not surprised at the prevalence of crime, from petty theft to rape.
Not to quibble here but who cares about “reported rapes”? That’s like ranking schools based on “reported unicorn sightings” (The UC schools lead that list, their access to good acid is way better than other schools).
I care about “actual rapes”, that is, those that really happened.
I went to a very nice, some might say “elite”, private school. During my time there with over 3000 students attending each year we have five reports of rape, all of which turned out to be false. Every single one involved one of two snobbish sororities where some girl made the decision to jump in bed with a guy who was “socially unacceptable” to her sisters and ended up reporting a rape to save face. The only thing that saved these young ladies from getting in serious trouble was that they reported it through the university rather than going to the police to file a [false] report. Each one was expelled for their actions but unfortunately a couple guys were expelled over this too before the girl the case recanted.
Eliminating affirmative action in all its forms, special treatment for illegals, and unvetted legal immigration would get rid of 95% of rape claims. The other 5% are misandrist liars trying to get attention.
All states should follow utah in “off places” and utah should follow constitunal carry states as kansas.
Ranking colleges based on rape reporting is truly a horrible idea (Vox got something right for once). Get ready for more of this: https://ethicsalarms.com/2014/04/18/an-unethical-website-golden-rule-malpractice-and-the-worst-anti-bullying-program-ever/
Sobriety and situational awareness would go a long way to bringing these numbers (way) down. I know… victim blaming. Shut up.
Considering that most campus rapes occur as a result of one or both of those involved having over consumed either (sometimes both) alcohol and other drugs, I’m confident firearms are not the correct answer here. Let’s be real, handing a drunk person a firearm is never a great idea.
Now this isn’t to say that college students should not be allowed to own guns or have them on campus. They 100% should. However, in many of these cases, those guns would be of little use because they should be locked away, where Jane/John Drunk can’t get their hands on it.
Although it’s true that statistics are not always reliable indicators of causal effect, it is significant that cities and universities with highly Liberal leadership tend to have very high violent crime rates. Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago, LA, and Detroit are all good examples. Of course, one must also consider that a large proportion of city dwellers tend to be either outright Liberals or welfare recipients, which also adds to the crime rates because the people there are either committing lots of crimes or trying to make sure that the people who commit them don’t get punished.
As a current student at Brown, I can share a couple of insights.
1. The headline is very misleading. Brown may have had the highest overall number of incidents, but that is meaningless. The important figure is rate, to account for population size differences. How many times have we called out the antis on that? Don’t make the same mistake.
2. Brown prohibits student carry under Offense X of our student code of conduct. As a RI CCW holder, I have had several conversation with Mark Porter, our campus police chief. He’s a good guy and wouldn’t have a problem with me cc’ing, but takes his orders from higher up. So for now, I can carry down Waterman St all I want, but I can’t cut across our Main Green (quad) to George st without the threat of expulsion. To make things worse, our campus is an open campus–anyone can walk on or off. Guess who won’t give a hoot about being expelled? You guessed it: non-students and anyone, student or not, intent on criminal harm. That leaves me, the law abiding, US Army 2LT disarmed while in class or going back and forth to my apartment. Makes total sense. Furthermore, any parent, friend etc who wanted to visit could carry, since (s)he wouldn’t be subject to the code of conduct.
3. RI law, in my layman, interpretation, actually protects campus carry. The section of RIGL 11-47 (weapons law), which allows for carry on K-12 school grounds, exempts colleges and universities from being legal-gun free zones. I am currently looking for a lawyer (and money) to take this to court. [If any of y’all have advice about either, hit me up at [email protected]]. In the meantime, getting an MD beats taking the chance of being expelled. Which is how the antis win–the threat of force, in this case expulsion from medical school, threatens someone like me who wants to make something of himself and who will therefore follow the rules. But it leaves wholly untouched the armed robbers and burglars who regularly make their way onto campus.