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Yale’s sexual violence reports far exceed other CT schools, but police point to location

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WFSB) - Connecticut colleges and universities released their annual campus safety reports last week. At Yale, reports of sexual violence were far higher than most other schools, but police say those numbers may not tell the whole story.

There is a spotlight on campus safety after last month’s allegations that a Cornell student was gang raped by seven other students, and allegedly wasn’t reported by dozens of others with knowledge. At Yale, recent sexual violence data through the university’s annual Clery report is much higher than most other Connecticut universities.

Michael Maldonado and Alexa Matias are juniors at Yale who live on campus. They say they feel safe, but they also hear stories, either on the news or from friends, about sexual assaults on campuses.

Matias said, “Especially as a woman, I think these are experiences that I hear a lot of my friends say they have when they go out and something weird happens. And I think it’s just hard to define in words whether something counts as assault or not.”

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center says more than two-thirds of sexual assaults are not reported. Yale’s newly released Clery report lists 27 reported rapes, 26 reports of fondling and 53 reports of stalking. General dating violence reports are down, but most of these numbers are proportionately much higher than other Connecticut universities.

New Haven police suggest Yale’s location near downtown may also affect the number of reports, even if they’re not directly related to the university.

New Haven Police Officer Christian Bruckhart said, “You have a medium sized city, comparatively, and a university that is large. You would expect, I think, to see a higher number of crimes.”

In a statement Monday, Yale’s head of public safety didn’t directly answer questions about why the university’s reported numbers are higher. The statement acknowledged recent incidents on college campuses and the importance of public safety.

The statement read, “The university maintains robust training and awareness programs for students, faculty, and staff on preventing or responding to discrimination, harassment, and misconduct, and engages… on a regular basis to raise awareness of the many reporting tools and support services available to the Yale community.”

Asked whether what allegedly happened at Cornell could happen at Yale, Maldonado said, “I don’t think so. I think that the university would take that more seriously than Cornell did.”