By: Jessica Griggs ~Campus News Editor~

The Jeanne Clery Act Report for the 2015-16 school year was released earlier this month. As required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, the Xavier Police must publish an annual security and fire safety report.

“The Clery Report gives a general report of campus safety not just crime statistics,” Lt. Ken Grossman said. “It talks about the reporting structure not just through the police department but also through the Title IX office as well. When students read it, they can see exactly what we are doing to provide for their safety. They can see what we do the things we do and why we do them.”

Included in the report are various policies and regulations such as the alcohol policy and the timely warning notices students receive when there is a safety threat. These sections detail the procedures Xavier Police follows in certain situations. Also included is a log of every single educational program, along with the dates and locations, that was provided by the university during the previous academic year.

One of the final sections of the report details the crime statistics on campus from 2012- 14. There was a combined total of eight reported rapes and sexual assaults in 2013 and nine in 2014. Statistically there has not been a significant change in the numbers from this year’s report. Grossman acknowledged that reports of rape may seem to be higher than previous years, but he attributes this increase to the safety students feel in reporting these crimes.

“I think students feel more comfortable reporting crimes like rape because offices have been established that can help victims in these specific situations,” Grossman said. “Students aren’t as afraid to report these crimes as they may have been in the past, so that is one possible explanation for the increase in the number of reports.”

A section of the report that is somewhat open to interpretation is the section about dating violence. Xavier Police is required to include in the report the number of dating violence incidences, but under Ohio law, dating violence does not exist.

“Under Ohio law there is no such thing as dating violence” Grossman said. “It’s either assault or in one of the assault categories, so we have to read through the report and figure out whether an incident meets the requirements for dating violence. The dating violence is the one that requires some interpretation on our part.”

The report listed two instances of dating violence in 2014 and one instance of domestic violence.

This year’s report is available online at http://www.xavier.edu/ clery/documents/ASR2015- 16.pdf, or a hard copy can be obtained in the Clery Compliance and Safety office in Flynn Hall.