Author: Yuca Kosugi
The 2013 Annual Fire Safety and Security Report published Oct. 1 contained revised numbers of sex offenses and other violations recorded for 2010 and 2011. The report also showed a continuing trend in the high number of disciplinary referrals regarding liquor and drug abuse violations at Occidental. Crime statistics related to burglary, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft and arson were included as well.
Director of Communications Jim Tranquada sent students and faculty the report, composed in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Act, via email. He explained that the overreporting and underreporting of offenses in previous years resulted from several misinterpretations and misinformation.
“The revisions to the 2010 numbers also reflect 19 anonymous reports of sexual misconduct that should have been, but were not, part of our Clery report,” Tranquada wrote in the email.
The 19 anonymous sex offense reports that were collected by a Project S.A.F.E. survey during the Spring 2010 semester were added to the 2010 statistics. Two sex offense reports were added to 2011 because they were assigned the wrong year. Another report that was previously not included due to unsubstantial data was added to 2011 after sufficient information was received. Reports which should have been included were added to both 2010 and 2011.
“The overreporting is the result of the use of an incorrect definition of adjacent public property,” Tranquada said in regard to removed reports.
According to Tranquada, two reports in 2010 and six reports in 2011 were removed due to a misinterpretation of the Clery Act definition of adjacent public property boundaries. Previous reports included crimes that occurred within the boundaries of the Campus Safety escort program; the updated reports only show crimes within the “public property that immediately borders and is accessible from the campus — sidewalk-street-sidewalk,” as defined by the Clery Act. The revision resulted in the reduction in the number of sex offenses, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries and automotive thefts reported in both 2010 and 2011.
“We will continue to report Clery crime categories in the escort area as a separate supplement to the official Clery statistics,” Tranquada wrote in the email. “This is important because Oxy is a residential campus in an urban environment and because many students either live or spend time inside the escort boundaries.”
The fire portion of the report showed 32 incidents of false fire alarms, 17 of which were related to cooking.
The 2013 report also revealed the continually high number of reported disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations on campus. In 2012, Occidental reported 311 referrals. In 2011, 2010 and 2009 there were 242, 389 and 392 cases, respectively, as compared to 31, 70 and 21 in 2008, 2007 and 2006.
Among the other SCIAC schools, the average on-campus disciplinary referral for liquor violations in 2012 (Whittier’s statistics were not available at this time) is about 82, which puts Occidental’s report rate at almost four times that of the rest of the SCIAC schools.
In an interview with The Occidental Weekly in 2010, Campus Safety Director Holly Nieto explained that the increase in referrals is due to better enforcement and record-keeping.
Similarly, Occidental recorded 100 on-campus disciplinary referrals in 2012 for drug abuse, more than 3.5 times the average of the SCIAC schools for 2012.
The report additionally provides directions for reporting various crimes and describes specific resources available to student victims. Though the Department of Education’s website is unavailable due to the current government shutdown, a virtual copy is available on Occidental’s website and a hard copy can be requested from Campus Safety.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
