Experts say campus data undercounts sexual assaults

Sexual assaults are reported thousands of times a year on the biggest university campuses in the U.S., data shows. Experts say the data undercounts the number of incidents.

Jane Doe in the Cornell University case is one of more than 45,000 people who have reported being raped or sexually assaulted to their college or university between 2019 and 2024, according to federal data — and experts say that number wildly undercounts campus sexual violence.More than 80% of the largest four-year colleges and universities reported incidents of rape or fondling at least twice a year, on average, between 2019 and 2024, according to CBS News' analysis of the data that schools reported to the U.S. Department of Education. That includes 238 incidents reported at Cornell during that 6-year timeframe, the data shows, or an average of 8 incidents per 5,000 students each year.

That's compared to an average rate of about 4 incidents per 5,000 students each year across all large schools with at least that many students enrolled. The federal data includes both on-campus and some off-campus incidents, and counts reports made to "campus security authority" individuals, like campus police or Title IX officials. The numbers are compiled in response to a law called the Jeane Clery Act. But these numbers fail to capture students who were sexually assaulted and chose not to report it. Surveys show about 1 in 5 undergraduate students say they experienced at least one incident of sexual violence, but the majority are never