The Annual Security Report showed that reported forcible sex offenses on campus rose 162 percent and liquor law violations rose 37 percent in 2014.
Twenty-one forcible sex offenses were reported on campus in 2014, 19 of which occurred in resident halls. This is an increase from eight reported cases in 2013, five of which occurred in residence halls. One case was determined to be unfounded by MPD detectives, and 10 cases of stalking were also reported, down from 18 the year before.
The report, which was emailed to the AU community on Oct. 1, also detailed instances in which state and local laws were broken. There were 389 liquor law violations in 2014, up from 283 the previous year, and 80 drug abuse violations, up from 60 the previous year, according to the report.
The reported liquor crimes differ from University conduct rules. Students over the age of 21 are still in violation of AU policies governing alcohol if they possess or drink it in certain places on campus, according to the Code of Conduct. This includes “[K]nowingly and voluntarily be[ing] in the presence of alcohol in the residence halls,” according to the code.
The security report is released by the University each year in compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. The Clery Act requires that colleges and universities disclose information about crime that happens on campus, school-owned facilities and school-managed public property, like the sidewalks around a campus.
In 2014 there were six total hate crimes, two of which were vandalism in residence halls. There was an additional act of vandalism characterized by racial bias which occurred elsewhere on campus, according to the report. These were the first recorded instances of hate-based vandalism on campus since at least 2012.
