Sexual assault cases at TXST went drastically under-reported

Texas State University drastically under-reported the amount of sexual assaults that occurred at its San Marcos campus from 2016 and 2017, according to its annual security report released Monday. 

Texas State had previously reported there had been eight rapes that occurred at the San Marcos campus from 2016-2017. According to the revised report released Monday, however, there were 36 cases of rape and one case of statutory rape during that time period. The data also revealed 40 combined cases of dating violence, domestic violence and stalking during the two-year span.

Texas State University announced in September that it provided insufficient information in its prior year’s annual security reports, including a lack of Campus Security Authority identification, lack of information for its Round Rock campus and reporting deficiencies.

“With the release of the 2019 Annual Safety Report (ASR) on Sept. 30, 2019, to students, faculty and staff, Texas State University has corrected deficiencies identified in prior years’ reports, and implemented university-wide processes to help ensure accurate crime statistics reporting moving forward,” Texas State said in a press release. 

Texas State said it became aware of its deficiencies after the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators conducted a peer review. A draft report was issued by IACLEA on Nov. 16, 2018 and the University began addressing issues found in the report. 

Texas State hired Laurie Clouse as its new chief of police on Feb. 4 as a result of IACLEA recommendations.

According to the report, 19 rape cases were reported in 2018. Additionally, there were 16 reported cases of either dating violence, domestic violence and stalking.