Disturbing trends in violent crime are often hidden from the public eye until long after the fact — and long after anyone can be blamed for them. So why did the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) so openly release statistics that the number of reported rapes on campus rose from zero in 2005 to nine in 2006?

As it turns out, the University is actually proud of this increase, in the belief that it points to increased availability of resources and awareness on campus. Members of the multi-faceted support system for sexual violence victims within the University all agree that the increase in reported rapes represents an increase in willingness to report rape, not an increase in actual crimes.

This trend runs counter to national data. The Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) Web site reports that rape is “still not being reported” on a national level.

“The National Crime Victimization Survey includes statistics on reported and unreported crimes in America,” the site reads. “Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, with more than half still being left unreported.”

Even relatively conservative estimates from RAINN say that one in six women will be raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime, and other surveys put the number as high as one in three.

With knowledge of national rape statistics, the University has sustained effort over the past few years to make victims feel comfortable in reporting sexual crimes.

Last April, the Sexual Violence Advisory Board and Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman unveiled a new Web site to centralize information about resources available for sexual violence victims on campus.

The site, entitled “Sexual Assault & Relationship Abuse Prevention & Support at Stanford,” provides a hotline number for Stanford’s Sexual Assault Center as well as suggestions of various ways that students can report sexual crimes. The site also lists information about which reporting options are anonymous and which require a legal investigation or medical exam.

“Our campus wants and deserves comprehensive information about sexual violence and relationship abuse,” said Sexual Violence Advisory Board co-chair Carole Pertofsky, who directs the Health Promotions Services at Vaden. “For that reason, we developed this Web site, which is a work in progress.”

Students can access the new site by typing “rape,” “relationshipabuse,” “sexualassault” or “domesticviolence” into the address bar of any computer connected to the Stanford network.

The Web site and other similar efforts by the University have been made possible by a two-year, $200,000 grant received in late 2006 from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women office. According to Pertofsky, the grant is intended to support efforts to end violence against women on campus.

Aside from these official University actions, campus groups have taken steps to take the stigma out of reporting sexual violence, contributing to the increase in the 2006 figures.

“It’s not likely that sexual assault itself is increasing on campus, but that understanding and awareness are becoming more accurate,” said Jesse Wallin ‘08, president of Men Against Violence (MAV). “That higher number is because more outreach groups like MAV are starting to get out there so survivors know where they can go.”

Campus programs include a workshop on domestic violence resources that was held on Oct. 30 in Palo Alto and last spring’s “Take Back the Night” vigil in White Plaza. MAV will also be holding a white ribbon campaign in late November.

Campus Peer Health Educators (PHEs) further spread awareness about resources for victims of sexual violence.

“In my PHE-to-be class, we did a focus group, a flier campaign and then a skit to show nuances in relationship abuse that could lead to sexual assault,” said Susi Smith ‘08, a PHE in Toyon Hall. “That was to heighten campus awareness in general.”

Smith commented that, as a freshman, she would not have known where to go to report sexual assault.

“I probably would have gone to my RA [Resident Assistant] or someone else close to me,” she said. “Now, I’d go directly to the YWCA.”

Recent well-publicized incidents on campus have contributed to awareness of sexual violence on campus, including an assault that occurred outside Kimball Hall in early October and the abduction of a teenage girl on Halloween.

The SUDPS report only comes out once a year, so detailed 2007 statistics on rape and other sexual violence on campus will not be available for almost another year. However, the Office of Judicial Affairs reported seven cases of sexual assault-related violations of the Fundamental Standard during the 2006-2007 school year. During the previous four years, there were only two such offenses.

Despite the increase in reported crimes, there are still many reasons why women choose not to report rape.

“The victim often blames herself with a litany of ‘I shouldn’t haves,’ such as I shouldn’t have gone to the party, gone to his room [or] drank so much,” Pertofsky said, also citing cultural victim-blaming. “But regardless of what the victim did or did not do, the abuser chose to violate the victim.”

Pertofsky added that the decision to go forward and report a rape can be “daunting.” Eileen Sisk ‘08, who works at the Bridge Peer Counseling Center, agreed.

“From hearing the Stanford Police speak on the protocol for sexual harassment and rape reporting, it is not an easy process to report,” she said, citing the role of alcohol and long legal battles. “The fact that rape is a ‘big deal’ to report is exacerbated in situations where the perpetrator and the survivor are acquaintances or friends.”

Seven of the nine rapes reported by the SUDPS took place in dorm residences, making it likely that many victims knew their rapists prior to the crimes. Sisk emphasized the public consequences that reporting a rape can have for women.

“Making a claim that someone in your social circle raped you could have serious social consequences,” she said. “A result of the stigma against women is that it’s much easier to think that a girl is exaggerating, rather than your guy friend is a rapist.”

According to Sisk, the Bridge tries to counteract these pressures by offering women the freedom to speak in a non-judgmental environment.

“I believe the role of peer counselors is to provide a safe space where the survivor could decide whether reporting is a process that she would like to go through and refer survivors to other resources,” she said.

Only time will tell whether the nine reported rapes last year were an exception to the rule, or the start of a new trend of openly reporting campus rape. But Sociology Prof. Paula England, who recently conducted a survey on the sexual behaviors of college students, reiterated just how difficult reporting rape can be.

“Because of the double standard by which women are judged more harshly than men if they are seen as ‘too sexual,’ women fear that they will be judged for [actions such as] going to his room,” she said. “And indeed when women are raped, they often are judged.”