The number of reported forcible sexual assaults at the College more than doubled from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010, rising from 10 to 22, according to the College's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report released on Sept. 30. The number of liquor law arrests increased to 134 in 2009-2010 from 123 in 2008-2009 and 77 in 2007-2008, according to the Safety Report.
The increase in reported sexual assaults can be attributed in part to campus resources that make students more likely to report incidents, Director of Safety and Security and College Proctor Harry Kinne said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"One of the things about sexual assault is that it's tremendously underreported on every college campus," Kinne said. "We hope that one of the indicators of [the 2009-2010 report's] statistic might be that people are more comfortable coming forward and reporting."
The College has instituted several new programs designed to "educate and empower" the entire campus, including victims of sexual assault, Kinne said. Last year, the Office of the President hired a second Sexual Abuse Awareness Program coordinator to advise the Sexual Abuse Peer Advisor program, he said.
"Since the arrival of [College President Jim Yong Kim], the College has taken a broad view in terms of increasing awareness and handling sexual violence," Kinne said. "This summer, the Department of Safety and Security reviewed and strengthened the judicial process for cases of sexual assault and domestic abuse, and also developed a video that outlines Safety and Security resources available to campus, with input from a SAPA and detectives from the Hanover Police Department."
The College will continue its "educational" approach in order to combat dangerous binge drinking among students, Kinne said.
"Alcohol abuse and binge drinking on campus probably hasn't changed significantly in the last 20 years," he added.
The number of Good Samaritan calls increased from 84 in 2008-2009 to 137 in 2009-2010, according to the Committee on Standard's Annual Report to the Community, also released on Sept. 30. The COS Annual Report also listed 280 College alcohol policy violations, 68 College alcohol policy violations resulting in discipline and 75 first alcohol violations that only resulted in education.
In addition to the year's 134 liquor law arrests, the Safety Report listed 39 liquor law violations referred for disciplinary action last year. There were 24 such violations in 2008-2009 and 44 in 2007-2008.
Kinne referenced Kim's creation of the Learning Collaborative on High Risk Drinking in May as one way in which the College is currently working to reduce alcohol abuse. The 32-institution Collaborative aims to address alcohol use on campuses across the country by facilitating the exchange of information regarding programs that successfully reduce alcohol abuse.
The Collaborative allows the College to address drinking from a "very new model and very medical approach," Kinne said.
College officials will continue to make alcohol-related arrests and other alcohol-related violations that result in disciplinary action a top priority for the College, according to Kinne.
"Clearly there are some statistics we still have concerns about," he said. "The Collaborative met once in the summer and will be meeting again in January, and we anticipate that they will come back with a number of strategies that will work on campus to reduce the incidence of binge drinking and dangerous drinking."
The Safety Report also cited 23 drug-related arrests and 24 drug law violations referred for disciplinary action in 2009-2010 up from 4 arrests and 19 violations in 2008-2009.
One of the "most noteworthy" aspects of the 2009-2010 Safety Report is the low incidence of violent crimes other than sexual assault, Kinne said.
"We're pleased to see that incidents of robbery, arson, murder and other such crimes is really, really low at Dartmouth and significantly lower than many of our peers in the [Ivy League]," he said. "We are a rural campus which would correlate with less crime in general but there are also a number of things that Dartmouth has instituted to make this campus safer in general."
The 2009-2010 findings reported one robbery, seven burglaries and two cases of arson. There were no reported incidents of motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault or illegal weapons possession arrests. Yale University reported an 11-percent decrease in overall crime incidences during the 2009-2010 academic year, the Yale Daily News reported. Consistent with patterns at Dartmouth, Yale also reported an increase in alcohol and drug violations and forcible sexual assault from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010, according to the Daily News.
Princeton University experienced a decrease in crime, reporting its lowest crime level in a decade, according to The Daily Princetonian. Alcohol-related offenses and burglaries both declined significantly, while reports of sexual assault increased slightly from 2008-2009, The Princetonian reported.
Data in the College's Annual Security and Fire Safety Reports draws from reports gathered by Safety and Security officers, Hanover and Lebanon Police and other security authorities. The report is mandated by the federal Clery Act, which requires colleges to distribute an annual report to students and faculty detailing crime statistics and safety resources on campus and in the surrounding area.