Content Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault and domestic violence.
Emory University published its annual Clery Report earlier this month, detailing a rise in burglaries, stalking, weapons law violations resulting in arrests, and motor vehicle thefts compared to last year. However, there were fewer cases of dating violence and rape. Vice President of Public Safety Cheryl Elliott emailed this report in a campus-wide email after compiling campus safety and fire statistics from January to December 2023.
Under federal law, all universities that participate in federal student aid programs must record these public safety-related statistics about overall campus safety and publish those statistics in an annual report.
Criminal offenses
The Atlanta campus, which includes on-campus property and on-campus student housing, saw an increase in the number of criminal offenses, including burglaries and motor vehicle thefts, from 2022 to 2023.
In 2022, there were no reported robberies, while the number rose to four in 2023. On-campus burglary cases increased from 41 to 61, as did the number of on-campus motor vehicle thefts, which rose from one to nine.
At Oxford College, there were four on-campus burglaries, with two occurring in student housing. This is an increase from zero burglaries in 2021 and 2022.
Title IX Misconduct
The Atlanta campus saw an increase in some types of Title IX misconduct cases in 2023. This classification of policy violation includes stalking, sexual assault, domestic violence and dating violence.
Stalking cases on the Atlanta campus had an about 281% increase from 21 cases in 2022 to 80 cases in 2023. Additionally, there were three other cases of stalking on public and non-campus property. Domestic violence on the Atlanta campus doubled from seven cases in 2022 to 14 cases in 2023.
However, the Atlanta campus experienced a decrease in dating violence cases since 2022, dropping from 27 to 10 cases. Three of the 10 cases are confirmed to have been between two individuals in a relationship. The number of reported rapes on the Atlanta campus also decreased from 19 cases in 2022 to 14 cases in 2023. The Atlanta campus had 14 cases of fondling in 2022, which remained the same in 2023. One case of fondling occurred on non-campus property in 2023.
According to a note in the report, there are potentially unreported cases of fondling, rape and dating violence that occurred between two individuals who were in a relationship.
On the Oxford campus, reports of rape decreased from four in 2022 to zero in 2023, while the number of fondling incidents remained unchanged, with four cases reported each year. Oxford had two cases of stalking in 2023 — slightly down from the three cases reported in 2022 — and the number of dating violence cases decreased from two in 2022 to zero in 2023.
Drug and liquor violations
Drug-related violations and arrests rose significantly on the Atlanta campus. In 2022, there was one drug law violation that resulted in a referral and zero drug law violations that resulted in arrests. Meanwhile, there were 24 drug-related referrals and two arrests in 2023, with an additional drug-related arrest occurring on public property. During the same period, liquor law violation referrals decreased slightly from 282 cases in 2022 to 256 cases in 2023, with no arrests either year.
Oxford also saw an increase in drug-related violations, with referrals increasing from one in 2022 to four in 2023. Liquor law violations slightly decreased from 17 referrals in 2022 to 16 referrals in 2023. No arrests were made for any drug or liquor law violations on the Oxford campus.
Other crimes
In 2023, the Atlanta campus had one report of a hate crime consisting of intimidation resulting from national origin or religious bias. This number is down from three hate crimes that occurred in 2022.
Additionally, the Atlanta campus had one count of manslaughter by negligence on campus property in 2023, which is defined by the report to be “the killing of another person through gross negligence.” There were no cases of manslaughter in 2022.
During 2023, two unintentional fires related to cooking occurred in residential housing facilities. The fires, which occurred in Harris Hall and Undergraduate Residential Center Building C, resulted in $0 to $99 in damages.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault, you can access Emory’s Title IX resources at 404-727-0541 or https://equityandcompliance.emory.edu/title-ix/index.html and the Office of Respect at https://respect.emory.edu/ or their hotline 24/7 at (404) 727-1514. 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 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.
