An empirical investigation of campus demographics and reported rapes

ABSTRACT

Objective: Rape on college campuses continues to be a pervasive public health issue with approximately 11% of women experiencing rape while in college. As such, it is important to examine factors unique to college campuses that influence the occurrences of rape. Methods: Using data from 1,423 four-year universities (public and private with at least 1,000 students) from the Office of Education and the Clery Act (2014), we examined institutional risk factors, such as tuition, liquor violations, Greek-life, athletic programs, institution type (public vs. private), and geographical location. Results: Public institutions with higher tuition, more liquor violations, and greater numbers of fraternity men and athletes were more likely to report rape on their campuses. Conclusions: Findings suggest that there are university-level characteristics which may increase certain campuses propensity toward violence against women.

KEYWORDS:

• Athletic men
• campus rape
• Clery data
• fraternity men

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States. Approval from an Institutional Review Board was not required.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Notes

^± The data collected via this mechanism is required by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (ie, Clery Act) and the Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008).