Content Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault and domestic violence.
Emory University’s annual Clery Report indicated increases in reported rape, dating violence and alcohol law violation disciplinary referrals but decreases in drug law violation disciplinary referrals on the Atlanta campus. Emory Police Department (EPD) Chief Cheryl Elliott shared the report in a University-wide email on Sept. 29.
All institutions participating in federal financial assistance programs are required to submit a security and fire safety report. This year’s report reflects data collected by EPD and Campus Life from January 2022 to December 2022. This period reflects the first full calendar year of campus at full capacity since the COVID-19 pandemic, as only first-years and select other students were allowed on campus in the 2020-21 academic year.
The Atlanta campus experienced increases in acts which fall under the “Title IX Misconduct” classification. Prohibited conduct that increased under this subset in 2022 include rape, fondling, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
Reports of dating violence increased the most on the Atlanta campus, from two cases in 2021 to 12 cases in 2022, according to the report. Reports of rape also increased significantly, from six in 2021 to 14 in 2022. Five of the rape cases occurred in student housing located on campus, the same number as in 2021.
Last year, several students led a rally to voice their concerns with the University’s Title IX office, including lack of staffing and inaccessible resources. University President Gregory Fenves said in an interview with the Wheel earlier this fall that he was “very unhappy” to learn about the office’s backlog of cases. To address student concerns, Fenves said he helped restructure the office and instituted regular meetings with senior executives to address the backlog issue.
Stalking also increased acutely from the 12 cases reported in 2021. Of the 22 Atlanta campus stalking cases reported in 2022, 19 occurred on campus, two occurred on public property and one occurred on non-campus property.
The Clery Act defines stalking as “engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person” that causes an individual to fear for their own or others’ safety or induces “substantial emotional distress.”
The Oxford campus saw slight increases in prohibited conduct falling under the “Title IX Misconduct” subset. Reports of fondling and stalking both increased from zero in 2021 to two in 2022. The number of reported rapes at Oxford did not change, as there were two reports of rape in both 2021 and 2022. There were no cases of reported domestic violence on the Oxford campus, which is consistent with the 2021 report.
In terms of substance use, drug law violation disciplinary referrals drastically decreased on the Atlanta campus in 2022 while liquor law violation disciplinary referrals increased. The Atlanta campus saw 24 drug law violation disciplinary referrals in 2021, however only one was reported in Emory’s Clery Report for 2022. In contrast, liquor law violation disciplinary referrals increased from 129 in 2021 to 141 in 2022. All of the liquor referrals took place in on-campus student housing while the drug referral did not.
The Oxford campus also had one drug law violation disciplinary referral in 2022, an increase from the zero referrals in 2021. Unlike the Atlanta campus, liquor law violation disciplinary referrals decreased at Oxford, from 63 in 2021 to 17 in 2022. Both the Atlanta and Oxford campuses experienced no drug law or liquor law arrests in 2022.
The Atlanta campus reported three hate crime reports in 2022. Unlike the previous two years, the Atlanta campus did not report any race-based hate crimes in 2022. The hate crimes included damage to both on-campus and public property due to sexual orientation bias, as well as a religiously-biased non-campus intimidation incident. There were no reported hate crimes on the Oxford campus.
There were two reported fires in Atlanta campus student housing facilities in 2022. One fire, which had an undetermined cause, resulted in $100 to $999 in damage in Clairmont Residential Center Building E. The other fire, which was deemed intentional, occurred in Sigma Alpha Epislon’s fraternity house at 18 Eagle Row and resulted in $0 to $99 in damage.
One unintentional fire occurred in Murdy Hall on the Oxford campus, resulting in $100 to $999 in damage.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault, you can access Emory’s Title IX resources at 404-727-0541 orhttps://equityandcompliance.emory.edu/title-ix/index.html and the Office of Respect at https://respect.emory.edu/ or their hotline 24/7 at (470) 270-5360. You can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault hotline 24/7 at (800) 656-4673 or https://hotline.rainn.org/online. You can reach the Atlanta Grady Rape Crisis Center crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 616-4861 or gradyrapecrisiscenter@gmh.edu and the Decatur Day League Sexual Assault Care and Prevention crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 377-1428.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or domestic violence, you can reach Emory’s Counseling and Psychological Services at (404) 727-7450 or https://counseling.emory.edu/ and intimate partner violence resources at https://womenscenter.emory.edu/resources/violence.html. You can call the Emory Police Department at (404) 727-6111. You can reach Georgia’s domestic violence statewide hotline 24/7 at (800) 334-2836.
