Sixty-one cases of sexual assault, harassment or other misconduct were brought to University officials between Jan. 1 and Jun. 30 of this year, according to Yale’s fourth semi-annual report of sexual misconduct complaints.
The report, released Wednesday evening by University Title IX Coordinator and Deputy Provost Stephanie Spangler, includes more complaints than any of the previous three dating back to the second half of 2011. Spangler emphasized in an introduction to the report the prevalence of underreporting sexual misconduct on college campuses and said the University is working to increase the likelihood of reporting.
Twenty-seven of the complainants from the first half of 2013 were undergraduates, while 14 of the cases involved undergraduate respondents.
One complaint involved an undergraduate who said he was contacted by an unknown individual claiming to be a member of a student organization who asked the student to engage in sexual activity as part of an initiation. The case has been referred to the Yale Police Department.
Eight cases involved sexual assault, which includes unwanted sexual contact or touching and rape. Cases of sexual harassment as well as stalking, violence and other misconduct violations were also included.
Title IX Coordinators handled 30 complaints, while the Yale Police Department handled 22 and the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, nine. The report also included 18 updates to cases included in previous reports.