Bowdoin Attributes Jump in Reported Rapes to New Rules
Bowdoin College’s 2014 rape figure increased nearly threefold from the year before.
Bowdoin College and the University of Maine reported the highest number of rape incidents in the state in 2014.
Bowdoin College reported 17 rapes in 2014, a high figure school officials attribute to new federal reporting rules and an increased awareness on campus.
The 2014 figure represents a massive increase in rapes from previous years for the Brunswick, Maine school, which has 1,730 enrolled students.
Bowdoin Title IX Coordinator Benje Douglas says the school has increased rape report training for faculty, staff and students in recent years, according to pressherald.com.
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Schools receiving federal funding must report crimes to the government and post their crime statistics on their websites. The Clery Act requires schools to include a rape incident in their report if it was filed that year, regardless of whether the rape occurred in a different year.
The Clery Act also moved rape from the “forcible sex offenses” category of crimes to a more specific category. Bowdoin reported six forcible sex offenses on campus in 2013.
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