Reports of sexual misconduct down at IU's Bloomington campus

The type of sexual misconduct and the outcome of the reports, as well as other data, were included in the recently released IU Office of Student Welfare & Title IX Annual Report 2016-17. The annual report provides some level of transparency for a subject that is both sensitive and shrouded in secrecy because of privacy laws. While numbers in the report are important, they only tell part of the story, said Emily Springston, IU’s chief student welfare and Title IX officer.

For instance, there was only one sexual misconduct report categorized as sexual exploitation. That’s a significant decrease from the 2015-16 school year, when 11 sexual misconduct reports were placed in that category.

Springston said more than one of those 11 reports was related to the same person.

“That’s another example of why it’s hard to read into the numbers,” she said.

An increase in reports of sexual misconduct classified as stalking could be related to the numerous social media platforms students are using. There were 20 reports of stalking in 2016-17, compared with 12 in 2015-16.