Despite an increase in arrests pertaining to alcohol, the campus crime report released in September by the ISU Police Department shows no appreciable trends in the rise or fall of campus crime.

But, campus officials said, these numbers may not represent the true state of crime on campus.

The statistics — taken from a 2003 report compiled from the security report required by the Clery Act, a federal law that requires U.S. colleges and universities to disclose information about crime on and around their campuses, and numbers from ISU Police incidents — show a fairly constant trend of sex offenses.

The total number of sex offenses rose to nine in 2003 from seven in 2002. There were seven sex crimes in 2001.

“It’s very consistent over time, in terms of reports,” said ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger. “But we are highly confident that the reported offenses significantly under-represented the number of actual instances.”

Deisinger and Heather Priess, coordinator of the Story County Sexual Assault Response Team, both said that most sexual assaults are never reported to police — but not only at Iowa State.

“Throughout the country, the majority of cases go unreported,” Priess said. “I would say most cases go unreported here, and there are a number of incidents which happen to students off-campus.”

These incidents, she said, are not represented in reports required by the Clery Act.

The result, she said, is often a skewed picture of the frequency of sexual crimes that affect college students.

“I don’t believe the Clery statistics for any campus in the country are an accurate depiction of what’s going on on campus,” Priess said. Though the law was made with the best of intentions, she said, “I just think we have a lot of problems really getting a good handle on what’s going on.”

The Clery Act, which became law in 1990, is named after Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh University student who was raped and murdered in her residence hall room in 1986.

The law requires schools to publish a report by Oct. 1 every year that lists recorded offenses in many categories. But, Deisinger said, because many sexual assault crimes go unreported there is no way to represent them with the Clery statistics.

SART’s statistics show a different view of Iowa State. In 2003, the team recorded 49 cases of sexual assault compared with the nine reported in the ISU report.

Victims who work with SART, Priess said, are encouraged to make official complaints to police, but they are not required to do so. It is this, she said, that often makes victims more comfortable reporting to their organization.

According to the SART statistics, the majority of sexual assault victims are college-aged, overwhelmingly female and report having used alcohol or drugs prior to the offense. In almost three-fourths of the cases, the victims were acquaintances with the perpetrator. In six of the cases, the offender was a stranger.

According to SART, 43 percent of the victims who went through SART were Iowa State students, down from 65 percent last year.

Only 10 percent of the crimes took place on the ISU campus, and only one case happened in a fraternity. This, too, is a reduction from the 2002 statistics.

Despite the numbers shown by both the report and SART, both Deisinger and Priess said Iowa State is no more dangerous than any other college campus.

“While we live in a relatively safe community, there are those who would come among us that will do harm,” said Deisinger.

He added that the use of alcohol often plays a large role in sexual assaults.

“If you are in a situation where alcohol is being used heavily, be aware that it puts you at a great risk,” Deisinger said. “All the more so if you are using it.”