The University has had only 22 reported cases of sexual assault over the past five years, according to a 507-page document released Monday by Louisiana’s Board of Regents detailing rates of sexual assault at higher education institutions across the state.
State Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, requested the report from the board in July after a U.S. Senate investigation by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill revealed that several universities across the nation failed to sufficiently respond to sexual assault.
Morrell said McCaskill’s investigation found that about 5 percent of a university’s student body had experienced sexual assault.
“At 5 percent with 30,000 students, LSU is looking at 1,500,” Morrell said. “Now, there are some people at LSU who gave pushback and said, ‘well, only 5,000 students live on campus.’ I still think that’s kind of an asinine argument.”
Five percent of 5,000 would amount to roughly 250 reported cases.
“If all they’re sticking to is that there are 22 assaults in the last five years, that’s a problem to me,” Morrell said.
In his letter to Sen. Morrell, LSU President F. King Alexander listed the number of sexual assaults at the University compared to those of 14 other flagship institutions.
According to Alexander’s data, the University tied for fourth place on the lowest number of sexual assaults.
“Really, if you have underreporting on that level, I think you really have to look at what is the existing policy on sexual assault reporting, and how is this environment not conducive to people coming forward and reporting,” Morrell said.
Summer Steib, director of the University’s Women’s Center, agreed that the numbers did not accurately reflect instances of sexual assault at the University.
“The numbers in Louisiana appear to be artificially low,” Steib said. “I would find it hard to believe that we have a lower incident rate than the rest of the country.”
Morrell said the 507-page report’s length was because most universities had included their entire student handbook as part of their response.
“I thought it was kind of lazy,” Morrell said. “Whether or not someone can walk in their graduation because they haven’t paid their final tuition payment has nothing to do with [sexual assault].”
Morrell said he was impressed by some colleges’ attempts to provide comprehensive data and information on campus resources.
“Some standouts are University of Louisiana [at] Lafayette, which really gave a robust overview of what they do when a collegiate sexual assault is reported,” Morrell said. “Another standout was University of Louisiana [at] Monroe, which provides several different opportunities for students to have seminars on sexual assault.”
UL Lafayette listed 13 reports of sexual assault over the past five years, while UL Monroe listed six.
Morrell said he is working on a bill for the 2015 legislative session to establish a uniform, statewide policy for sexual assault on college campuses, “a litmus test through which every university will be gauged again.”