Central Michigan Life

Percentage of Mount Pleasant crimes occurring on-campus [Click to enlarge]

An analysis of FBI and CMU Police Department crime statistics shows 78 percent of the forcible rapes reported in Mount Pleasant last year occurred on campus.

The FBI’s 2003 Uniform Crime Reports, released last week, stated nine forcible rape crimes were reported last year.

Seven of those rapes reported were on campus, reports show. The same number of forcible sex offenses occurred in 2002 on campus.

The statistics included information from CMU Police and local police department agencies, but did not detail information about Union Township, where many students reside in off-campus housing.

Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe said the high percentage of forcible rape cases reported on the university’s campus is not a surprise.

“Nothing is gained by pretending that there aren’t incidents of sexual aggression,” he said. “As a university, we need to acknowledge such cases and do anything we can to prevent incidents of violent crimes like rape from occurring.”

However, overall violent crime rates on campus are low in comparison to the City of Mount Pleasant.

Of all the violent crime that occurred in 2003 in Mount Pleasant, 19 percent occurred on CMU’s campus.

Violent crime includes robbery, aggravated assault, rape and murder.

Robbery, aggravated assault and rape made up 19 percent of all violent crimes

Roscoe said university police statistics don’t always paint a true picture of crime on the CMU campus because some forcible rape incidents go unreported.

However, more students are reporting cases of rape than in previous years, he said.

“I think it might be that young women who attend CMU might have more confidence in the court system and have more confidence in reporting incidents of sex assaults than their peers who are not college students,” Roscoe said.

Stephen Thompson, coordinator of Sexual Aggression Services, said crimes of rape are an increasing concern for CMU.

“The high numbers of students reporting rape is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Thompson said. “That is something we have been trying to educate people on literally throughout the country.”

Sexual Assault Peer Advocates, a group of 40 CMU students, attempts to prevent rapes on campus and assists victims of such assaults. The program has been running since 1996.

“I think more students are feeling more comfortable coming to this service for help and reporting to our campus police,” said Thompson, who is SAPA’s adviser.

He said his peer advocates have dealt with more than 100 sexual aggression cases to date this year. When the program started in 1996, the peer advocates averaged one contact a month. Now, they average five to six contacts a week.

Janice Klein, community policing officer for the CMU Police, said she deals with educational programs covering topics like assaults for various groups on campus.

Klein, who has advised victims of sexual assault, said rape is one of the most underreported crimes at the university.

“I have advised students on how to stay safe and what the procedure is when they come to our department for assistance,” Klein said. “Of course, we encourage the rape victims to report the crime immediately to police.”

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