Title IX Office responds to Security and Fire Safety Report

Ella Kitchens, Asst. News Editor–

On Sept. 30, Director of Campus Safety David Rose released the annual Security and Fire Safety Report to all Denison students.

The report provided information about safety at Denison and tracked reported crimes for 2021, 2022, and 2023. Crimes included criminal offenses such as rape, fondling, aggravated assault, burglary, arson, dating violence, and stalking. In addition to these, the report tracked offenses such as arrests and disciplinary referrals for weapons law violations, drug abuse violations, and liquor law violations.

After the summary of current policy at the beginning of the report, it listed crime statistics. Although there has been a decrease since 15 cases of rape were reported in 2021, 11 cases were reported in 2023 compared to seven in 2022. The numbers for dating violence are up with five reported cases in 2023 compared to one in 2022 and two in 2021.

The report tracks which crimes only occurred in residential facilities. Ten of the 11 reports of rape in 2023 occurred in residential facilities.  Eight out of nine cases of stalking and all five cases of dating violence also occurred in residential facilities.

“Because we are a fully residential campus and the behaviors listed often occur in private settings, all of our efforts are necessarily designed to address sexual misconduct in the residence halls. CAs are trained specifically on identifying sexual misconduct and on interfacing with complainants in trauma-informed ways,” wrote Justin Brown, Director of Civil Rights and Title IX and Senior Advisor to the President, in an email response to questions on the topic.

At Denison, the Title IX Office works to enforce Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. Students can report crimes of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking to Title IX Coordinator Justin Brown, find procedures for victims on Denison’s Title IX website, and seek support from the Title IX Office for any concerns related to sexual harassment.

The Title IX Office strives to eliminate sex discrimination by increasing awareness of how to identify misconduct for all students. This year, the Title IX Office established The First Year – Community Action for Respect and Empowerment (FY-CARE) Required Workshop, which teaches first year students how to detect sexual assault and how to report crimes and offenses.

“In general, if a member of our community makes a report to Campus Safety, officers will work to make sure everyone is safe, preserve any evidence, and assist the reporting party in communicating with Granville Police,” said Brown.

In addition to these resources, anonymous reporting is possible through My Denison by clicking “Report a Concern” on the right hand side of the website, with a “helping hands” icon. Anonymous reports will be investigated thoroughly, and they are counted in the security report.

“When we receive an anonymous report that lacks actionable detail, our response may be limited to attempting to locate corroborating information or speaking with named parties to clarify policies and set behavioral expectations,” said Brown.

Brown also said that “regarding the higher level of reporting in the past three years, we cannot say definitively that our work to increase awareness of reporting and detection is the cause.”

“Although one incident of rape or stalking is too many, we are still dealing with relatively small numbers here,” said Brown. “Even a small change can look like a significant shift but may ultimately have no policy- or practice-based explanation.”

To change policy, the Title IX Office needs clear evidence that a shift would benefit students.

“We do update our policies periodically, most often in response to changes at the state or federal level, in response to shifts in best practices, and based on the experiences of our community members,” said Brown. “As the numbers in the ASR are consistent with past statistics, we have made no change directly in response to this report.”

By emailing Justin Brown and the Title IX Office, students can seek support or request an investigation by the University into any Title IX offenses. Students can also report to Campus Safety in person at Level P1 of the Parking Garage or by calling 740-587-6777 (emergency) or 740-587-0810 (dispatch). Campus Safety and Title IX will refer criminal offenses to the Granville Police Department, which can be found at 141 E Broadway, Granville, OH, or by calling 740-587-1234.