Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - Virginia Commonwealth University is apologizing for what it says was an unintentional omission of sexual assault cases that occurred on its main Richmond campus over the last two years.
In its annual safety report, originally published September 29, VCU included inaccurate data in several categories, including rape, fondling, dating violence, and stalking. The report has since been revised.
VCU now says there were 20 instances of rape on the Monroe Park campus in 2022. The previous report said there had only been three incidents. Fondling cases changed from three to 11 in 2022 and three to eight in 2021. Dating violence cases changed from two to seven in 2022 and five to nine in 2021. Stalking changed from three to nine in 2022 and nine to 14 in 2021.
In a statement, VCU Police Chief John Venuti said the school’s Title IX Office “discovered data submitted by the office was not included in the 2023 report.”
“VCU Police is following Clery Act guidelines for correcting and re-publishing the reports,” Venuti said. He added that the numbers were revised on November 28 after the omission was discovered.
The university added that it encourages victims of sexual violence to file a report. VCU says victims can choose to do so through police, Title IX, or both.
"VCU Police takes each report of sexual assault seriously. VCUPD uses the You Have Options Program (YHOP), which gives survivors control over how much information they want to share with police and if they want to pursue an information-only report, a partial, or a full criminal investigation. This is a survivor-centered approach and we have specially trained, victim-witness officers on staff," the university added in a statement.
VCU says it also offers resources such as counseling, advocacy, and medical care. Additional information is available on the VCU Police website under the "Sexual Violence" tab.
