by Jacob Fuhrer |
Last week UP released the 2014 Crime and Fire Report, an annual document required by federal law that details crimes on campus, such as murder, sexual assault, drug and alcohol violations and burglary that are reported to Public Safety and Portland Police.
Also known as the Clery Report, the document resulted from the murder of Jeanne Clery, a 19-year-old freshman at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Clery was raped and murdered on campus by another student in 1986. All colleges and universities that receive federal aid are required to complete the report after her parents pushed for a law making universities’ crime statistics available to the public.
Sexual Assault
While the report indicates three instances of sexual assault, all of which occurred in residence halls, Director of Public Safety Gerry Gregg said that number doesn’t reflect all of them.
“Are there more than three that occurred? Absolutely. Do we know about them? Yes,” Gregg said.
Gregg said Public Safety is aware of six additional reports, but because the locations of the incidents were either unknown or off-campus, they are not counted in the report.
However, due to limitations in the Clery Act, only incidents that happen on or near campus are reported. This includes any satellite campuses and University-owned housing, as well as property temporarily used for school functions.
The incident last February when a UP student was sexually assaulted in what she thought was a taxi cab is not included in the report because it occurred off campus, according to Gregg.
Alcohol
Liquor law disciplinary referrals more than doubled in 2014 to a total of 161 on campus.
Alex Hermanny, associate director for community standards, attributes the uptick in reports to a change in approach by Residence Life.
“I think that has less to do with more drinking and... more to do with changing our model of how much we’re able to be present to students in person,” Hermanny said.
Hermanny said hall directors are now on duty every evening in every dorm, a change from years past when just one person was responsible for monitoring students in all residence halls.
The referral numbers also include last year’s Dance of the Decades, which saw a record-high 33 alcohol incidents and prompted changes to future UP events.
Drugs
Hermanny says UP is fortunate not to have a significant problem with hard drug use on campus.
“Drug usage at the University of Portland is typically marijuana-based,” Hermanny said.
Hermanny noted that despite the legalization of marijuana in Oregon, use of the drug has not seen a large uptick. He said there are occasional instances of drugs like ecstasy, cocaine and hallucinogens.
“Thankfully it’s not a common occurrence,” Hermanny said.
Public Safety did confirm one arrest on campus in which an unidentified person was found with ecstasy. The person was not a member of the UP community.
Burglary and Theft
The report indicates four instances of car theft, but Gregg says Public Safety was only immediately aware of a couple of those reports. The rest were reported directly to Portland Police, who Public Safety queries for information before compiling the annual report.
Though not a required part of the Clery report, bike theft falls under a category Gregg calls “property crimes,” which he said is down about 50 percent since around 2012.
“I think members of this community are more proactive about calling Public Safety,” Gregg said.
Public Safety has also made an effort to engage other groups on campus.
“The Residence Life staff…will hear me hounding the hell out of them the week before fall break because I want the bikes off the rack,” Gregg said. “The bike thieves know when our breaks are and they come on Friday or Saturday of Fall break to try to steal bikes.”
Stalking
In all, five instances of stalking were reported, up from zero on campus last year.
Stalking is defined broadly through Clery as anything directed at a specific person that would cause “fear for his/her safety or the safety of others” and cause the person to suffer “substantial emotional distress.” The category includes cyberstalking.
“I think awareness through the Green Dot Program has helped increase with reporting,” Michael McNerney, communication and technology coordinator for Public Safety said.
The Clery Act also requires the University to keep a public daily log of any crimes and fires on campus. That report is available on the UP website under the Public Safety section.
Update: An earlier graphic accompanying this story incorrectly represented the crime statistics. "Residence Hall" and "Campus" statistics were both presented in their entirety, rather than subtracting "Residence Hall" from the total "Campus" number, as it should be. Jacob Fuhrer is a reporter for The Beacon. He can be reached at fuhrer17@up.edu or on Twitter @jacobfuhrer.
