Data shows crime is on the rise at college campuses. How that looks at New England's Ivies
After dropping during the pandemic, government data shows that the number of crimes reported by college campuses across the country in 2022 have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
Crime reported from almost 6,000 institutions rose about 8% from 2019. The jump in offenses between 2019 and 2022 has coincided with many students returning to campuses after the pandemic.
The recent increase in campus crime across the country was primarily driven by a surge in reported motor vehicle theft, which more than doubled from 2019 and made up more than a fourth of 2022's offenses, according to USA Today reporting.
The recent spike represents the largest increase since universities and colleges that receive federal funding began reporting campus safety statistics. Experts are skeptical that this incline is gravely concerning, according to USA Today, but parents are concerned.
New England's Ivy League schools aren't immune to the rebound in campus crime. Here's a look at what the data says.
Check out USA TODAY's Crimes on Campus tool for detailed information. Zoom in on the map below to search crimes on more than 10,000 college and university campuses. Don't see a map? Click here.
Reported crime numbers at Brown University
Brown University was not immune to the spike, with a total of 91 reported criminal offenses in 2022. In 2020 and 2021, the number of reported crimes were 21 and 42, respectively. From 2014 to 2019, the average number of reported crimes were 57.
At Brown, 18 of the 91 reported offenses in 2022 were motor vehicle thefts.
There were 21 reports of rape, 28 reports of aggravated assault and 12 reports of fondling. There were also nine reports of burglary, two reports of robbery and one report of arson.
Brown had an undergraduate enrollment of 7,639 in fall of 2022.
In response to the data, Deputy Director of News and Editorial Development Amanda McGregor wrote in an email that Brown has a "culture of reporting," which helps them to address the incidents.
"Brown University is proactive in reporting crime data, and this is part of our strong commitment to prevention and response," McGregor said. "The safety of our community is always our top priority."
To address the "national issue of sexual- and gender-based harassment and violence on college campuses," McGregor wrote that Brown created a new Office of Equity Compliance and Reporting in the Division of Campus Life in 2024, to make reporting crimes like these as easy as possible, adding that the increased crime numbers actually show the abundance of resources Brown has towards crime reporting.
"[T]he University has proactively encouraged a culture in which students report incidents of sexual assault and misconduct and seek and receive support and assistance from the University," she wrote.
The school also educates students and campus community members on safety, including personal safety, securing personal property and remaining vigilant.
Reported crime numbers at Yale University
Connecticut's Ivy League school, Yale University had 135 reported criminal offenses in 2022, with an undergraduate population of 6,645 in the fall of that year.
There were 41 reports of rape and 17 reports of fondling. There were 35 reports of motor vehicle theft.
In 2020, Yale had a total of 114 crimes reported, and in 2021, there were 115 crimes reported.
The 2022 crime report numbers are higher than the last three pre-pandemic years, 2017, 2018 and 2019, as their crime report numbers were 108, 123 and 124, respectively.
Reported crime numbers at Harvard University
The Commonwealth's crown jewel of higher education, Harvard University had 172 reported criminal offenses in 2022, with an undergraduate population of 7,240 the fall of that year.
There were 75 reports of motor vehicle theft, 34 reports of burglary and 23 reports of fondling. There were also 16 reports of rape, 17 reports of aggravated assault, five reports of robbery and two reports of arson.
In 2020, Harvard had a total of 120 reported crimes, and in 2021, the school had 106 reported crimes.
The 2022 total number of reported criminal offenses is also higher than the pre-pandemic numbers, as Harvard had 135 reports in 2018 and 134 reports in 2019.
Reported crime numbers at Dartmouth College
New Hampshire's Ivy League Dartmouth College, had 65 total criminal offenses in 2022, with an undergraduate enrollment of 4,458.
The most numerous of the criminal offenses were burglary and motor vehicle theft, with 24 reports of burglary and 18 reports of motor vehicle theft.
Dartmouth had 23 crime reports in 2020 and 46 in 2021.
65 total reports of crime is a slight return to pre-pandemic numbers of crime reports, as 2018 and 2019 each had a total number of 71 crime reports. However, rape made up a much larger proportion of reports those years than in 2022.
Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on wickedlocal.com: Data: Crime rising at college campuses. How New England's Ivies fair.
