2020 Clery Report shows decrease in sexual assault offenses and alcohol violations

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The University of Dallas recently released its annual Clery Report that provides statistics on crimes that are committed by students. The results showed positive improvements from the year before with decreases in sexual assaults as well as liquor violations. 

In 2019, there were seven rape cases compared to the three that occurred in 2020. Liquor violations also decreased by almost half the amount from 76 in 2019 to 39 in 2020.

Andrew von Weber-Hahnsberg, a junior psychology major and RA in Augustine Hall, said, “We were sent home for half a semester so, I mean, there’s not much opportunity to violate drug and alcohol policy on campus if campus is entirely shut down.”

During 2020, the on campus COVID-19 rules were strongly enforced. Due to the strict security, students were not able to familiarize themselves with the campus and a majority of the policy-breaking was taken off campus, thus there was a decrease in alcohol violations found on campus.

Von Weber-Hahnsberg said, “They didn’t necessarily bring out the law dogs and crack down on us like that, but there was much more scrutiny so our behaviors were much more closely monitored.” 

After the initial COVID-19 scare that happened in the first weeks of the start of the fall semester, the school has consistently remained open. With many people on campus, the likelihood that more crimes will be committed immediately rises.

Another factor that comes into play is that for the last two years people have been unable to go to concerts and bigger social gatherings, causing students to be restless.

Von Weber-Hahnsberg said: “People are more energetic this year. They want it to get back to normal, and part of getting back to normal is kind of venting all of the energy that’s been pent up inside of them for the past year, year and a half. So I think we might see a rise in stuff like that.”

The university has tried to host fun events, so that when students have some free time from studying, they can participate in on campus activities.

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