Number of reported campus sex assaults doubled in 2020
By Chris Dunker
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LINCOLN, Nebraska (Lincoln Journal Star) — The number of on-campus sexual assaults reported to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police doubled in 2020 over the previous year, according to the annual campus crime report published this week.
A total of 26 rapes were reported on campus last year, including 24 in on-campus student housing, UNL’s Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report states.
That’s up from 13 sexual assaults reported in 2019, 12 of which were reported to have occurred in student housing.
The sharp increase stems from a student who reported being subjected to unwanted sexual touching by a partner an estimated 10 times while they were dating, police said.
The same reported incident by a student also caused the reported cases of on-campus dating violence to inflate this year.
A total of 23 instances of dating violence were recorded by UNL police in 2020, up from seven in both 2019 and 2018.
Since 2015, there have been 84 reported rapes or attempted rapes at UNL. Campus police have investigated 48 of those reports, the university said in September.
The number of stalking incidents reported to police dropped from 14 in 2019 to 13 in 2020, but the number of on-campus reports of stalking increased from six to 10, according to the report.
Other reported crimes dropped during 2020, a year that saw many students taking classes remotely.
There were no reported aggravated assaults or motor vehicle thefts last year. The number of burglaries on campus reported to police remained steady to the prior year at five.
The full report is available online at police.unl.edu/safety-reports-and-statistics#annual-report.
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