Lula Burke | Editor-in-Chief

Denison’s Annual Campus Safety and Fire Safety Report for 2023 was sent to all students via email Sept. 28. The report details the number of various incidents in 2022, in addition to current and updated campus policies and procedures.

In 2022, the following areas decreased in number of reports from 2021:
Rape: 7
Aggravated assault: 1
Burglaries: 5
Stalking: 7
Dating violence: 1
Arrests for drug abuse violations: 0
Disciplinary referrals for drug abuse violations: 50
Arrests for liquor law violations: 0
Disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations: 47

The following areas increased in number of reports from 2021:
Fondling: 5
Arson: 3

David Rose, the Director of Campus Safety, said that the report serves to inform the campus community and show statistical trends.

“We use this report to inform our community about campus security policies and programs, campus crime statistics, and much more. This report provides valuable information to community members regarding all of the steps we take to help keep our community safe,” he said.

Rose said that the campus has various internal and external discussions about the report, with “numerous campus professionals” closely monitoring “the broader higher education landscape” to assess the trends spanning universities across the country.

“There is a good deal of internal analysis and discussion every year about crime statistics and campus safety informational content. We evaluate all the information in the report to determine what we can learn. Were there changes from the prior year? Can we determine what accounts for any notable changes? Should we modify any of our campus programs based on what we’ve seen? We look at the data carefully,” he said.

Rose did not specify any modifications made between 2021 and 2022. A story by The Denisonian in the spring of 2023 noted that this report would span time where there was a lapse in permanent Title IX coordinators–reports of sexual assault dropped from 15 reports in 2021 to 7 reports in 2022. In last year’s story, the increase to 15 reports was explained as an increase in reporting. When asked to respond to the decrease in reports during the gap in permanent Title IX coordinators, Rose said that “the Title IX Office has been continually supported, and all reports of sexual assault were investigated accordingly during the past year.”

Catlin Cornish ‘24, the Co-President of the Denison Coalition for Sexual Respect (DCSR), encouraged students and members of the Denison community to reach out to DCSR if they have questions or concerns regarding the Title IX process, or if they just need someone to talk to. She said that the numbers in the yearly reports are not discussed between administration and student groups.

“Usually I look out of personal curiosity, although I feel that those numbers don’t tell us a lot because it’s really going to change year to year–how many people are reporting, what that process looks like, what survivors are seeking for themselves. Numbers are just part of it, and we have to look at [the] bigger picture,” they said.

In regard to the gap in permanent Title IX coordinators, Cornish said that “it’s good that more people may have reported [in 2021],” but they hope that “if people were experiencing sexual assault and harrassment in the same numbers that we have experienced in the past, I hope they found other avenues that are helpful and healing to them [if they didn’t report].”

She said that the Title IX Office is working to add structure and permanency to its procedures, such as increasing bystander intervention training and consent-focused first-year orientations.

Those who need support regarding a sexual assault can contact the Wellness Center at (740) 587-6200, reach out to Justin Brown at brownjm@ denison.edu, or message DCSR at [email protected].