Andrew Kerley, Audience Editor
VCU Police initially undercounted reported instances of rape and fondling on campus in 2022, according to their revised annual campus safety report.
The original report, released last September, counted five instances of rape and three instances of fondling, which VCU defines as the nonconsensual touching of another’s privates, on Monroe Park Campus in 2022. The revised report, released in December, counted 20 instances of rape and 19 instances of fondling.
The data for MCV Campus did not change, except for one instance of statutory rape decreasing to zero in the revised report.
VCU Police Chief John Venuti issued an apology, attributing the mistake to the first report’s failure to include data from VCU’s Title IX office, which is an alternate means of reporting sexual violence. The first report only included data from VCU Police, according to Venuti’s statement.
“In addition to the revised report, VCU Police are implementing new internal measures to ensure data integrity, including quarterly meetings with campus partners to review the data and resolve discrepancies,” Venuti stated.
The revised report revealed that reported instances of rape more than tripled between 2021 and 2022, increasing from six to 20. Reported instances of fondling increased from 11 to 19.
Venuti noted that sexual assault is “dramatically” underreported nationwide. He believes the increase is due to increased reporting by survivors, as explained in his statement.
A spring 2023 survey showed that 89% of students, faculty and staff felt “safe” or “very safe” on campus.
Yumnah Rahman, a graduate student studying medicine, said staying on campus feels “relatively okay.”
“I tend to stay at the library pretty late, so I’ll just walk back on my own,” Rahman said. “Not to say that I feel safe enough. I mean, I don’t walk with headphones. If I have a pen in my pocket, I’ll just keep it there for good measure.”
Eleven out of the 19 fondling instances reported in 2022 occurred on VCU property, according to the revised report.
Rahman said that a man exposed himself to one of her friends while they were studying at the Health Sciences Library last semester.
“It was just a really gross incident for her, she was very shaken up by the whole matter,” Rahman said. “The way the police were just very nonchalantly asking about her was really striking to me. It didn’t seem like they were taking it very seriously.”
VCU Police requires officers to conduct interviews in a trauma-informed manner, taking victims’ mental health into account.
Biruk Yigrem, a political science and African American studies student, said most of the interactions he’s seen between police and students were not positive.
“I feel like they’re just more of an authoritarian body, as opposed to something that’s supposed to foster safety,” Yigrem said.
Seventeen out of 20 rape instances reported in 2022 occurred inside dorms, according to the revised report.
Kyan Scott, a psychology student in his freshman year, said he hasn’t been affected personally, but has guy friends that have had experiences at parties, one of them believing he was raped.
“It’s not like people are getting ran up on in the streets every day, like students in Monroe Park or anything” Scott said. “It’s happening at parties and dorm rooms, that type of stuff.”
Madison Jaminet, also a freshman, said she was “roofied” on her first day of classes.
Celina Bolaños, an art student, said they wish the institution invested more in prevention, rather than remedying the aftereffects.
“I feel like either the school having more discussions about it, making counseling services more aware to help prevent people from doing that; it’s not completely avoidable, but if we had better funding into a more robust counseling system, I feel like that would probably help a bit,” Bolaños said.
Bolaños said the biggest upside about the VCU community is people’s solidarity with victims and the lessened stigma surrounding uncomfortable conversations.
“Don’t be afraid to call people out,” Bolaños said.
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