Talon Staff Special
Although a rise in violence and stalking in the campus safety report looks alarming, officials say there is more to the story.
Last year, more people than ever told authorities they believed someone on campus was a target of threats, intimidation or sexual harassment, shows the police department’s Security and Fire Safety Report (SSR).
According to the data from last year compared with 2021, reports of suspected abuse skyrocketed — in one category by 250%.
- Reports of domestic violence rose from, 2 to 7;
- Reports of dating violence rose from none to 11;
- And reports of stalking rose from 5 to 11.
Although the numbers appear to document a rise in crime, the increases more accurately reflect expansions in reporting requirements, show an investigation by The Patriot Talon.
The investigation found:
- more inappropriate actions than ever must be reported as a crime;
- more people are following mandates to report suspected abuse;
- and most reports are resolved with the accuser and accused receiving help to work out conflicts.
Police Chief Mike Medders said the statistics represent the number of reports filed and not arrests or convictions and that almost all cases involved people in a strained – but not violent — relationship.
Chief Medders talks about stalking cases:
“They were known individuals to each other,” he said. “And a large majority (of the cases) happened in student housing.”
Medders said numbers were up in 2022 in part because the campus was closed and most people were not in student housing, at least some of the time, in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid.
Students and employees are not being targeted by predators.
“You’ve got to realize that there are not strangers preying on our campus. … We don’t have strangers lurking in the bushes assaulting our students or assaulting our staff and faculty,” Medders said.
EXPANDING DEFINITIONS
Blake Bumbard coordinator of Title IX, the office that investigates gender related misconduct, said numbers are higher in part because more types of inappropriate activity is being reported as a crime than in previous years.
The Violence Against Women Act defines what colleges must report as dating violence, domestic violence and stalking. When Congress reauthorized the VAWA last year, it expanded the definition of these crimes.
Bumbard discusses new requirement on reporting suspicion of abuse:
“In 2022, they added some additional things that can also qualify as domestic violence,” Bumbard said. “They added psychological abuse, emotional abuse, technological abuse, financial abuse. … Now you don’t have to have only physical violence or threat of physical violence. All these other forms of abuse in a relationship will qualify.”
Any time a person threatens someone, even via a text message or social media, it is a “crime,” he said.
Medders said some disputes involving roommates are classified as crimes.
“When you have roommates get into a spat and somebody threatens to do something to the other one, we now have a direct threat of violence toward someone who cohabitates with that person, which meets the definition of domestic violence,” Medders said.
Reports often are filed by student housing resident assistants who hear about threats or deal with feuding roommates.
“One of the cases that shows up here on the (SSR) report is we had two roommates that got into an argument, a verbal argument,” Bumbard said. “One threatened the other one, ‘I’m gonna kick your butt,’ so that shows up on our report as domestic violence, even though nobody actually got hurt.”
Medders said stalking typically involves people who dated and broke up but one does not want the relationship to end and won’t stop contacting the other one.
“This isn’t your stranger lurking around the corner following a girl back to her apartment,” he said. “So stalking doesn’t necessarily mean somebody is hiding or just won’t go away.”
Medders said the person receiving a threat or is stalked electronically often chooses not to pursue a complaint.
“And then as soon as they say, ‘We don’t want any investigation,’ Title IX closes it (the case), we close it, but it (the crime statistic) still stands,” Medders said.
The latest VAWA also was expanded to recognize technology-assisted abuse as a crime.
The VAWA now “includes provisions to help law enforcement and victim service providers tackle online abuse and harassment … including the non-consensual distribution of intimate images,” said Rosie Hidalgo, director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women, in a statement released Sept. 23.
Bumbard said cyber stalking and sextortion cases are “one of the areas that we have seen a great increase in. … In the past, we didn’t have a lot of those cases.”
Sextortion begins when someone sends an email that includes a nude photo of themself.
“And then as soon as they do, then boom, they (the receiver) say, ‘now you have to give me money or I’ll post it,’” Bumbard said. “Yeh, we are seeing it more and more.”
EXPANDING REPORTING
Resident assistants are among people who must report possible abuse, even if they have no direct knowledge of wrongdoing or suspect it is only a rumor.
Texas Senate Bill 212, which went into effect on Sept. 1, 2019, requires all college employees to “promptly report” possible abuse to Title IX.
“This means that if you are an employee and someone tells you he or she has been sexually harassed, or if you are told about a sexual harassment … you are obligated to bring this to the attention of the appropriate university officer,” says information on UT Tyler’s website.
“That includes everyone from the president on down to your part-time custodial worker,” Bumbard said.
Those who fail to do so can be charged with a misdemeanor crime or fired. The law protects employees who report in good faith no matter what an investigation reveals. After SB 212 became law, the university increased training to ensure employees know their responsibilities.
“Our compliance training makes it clear we have to report the things we see and hear that might uncover abuse,” Danny Mogle, the university’s student media adviser, said. “We don’t have to know all the facts. The investigators trained to determine the truth take it from there.”
Employees use a form on the university website to report abuse. If it is an emergency, employees and students are directed to call 911.
Davis Behee, the campus security compliance officer, believes the increased reporting is a result of the university’s ongoing abuse awareness campaign.
“From 2021 to ’22, the university more than doubled its education programs dealing with these subjects,” Behee said. “That lends itself to better reporting. Students know how to report, who to report it to, the need to report and so forth.”
According to records reviewed by The Talon, police and Title IX officers conducted 110 outreach programs in 2022. Many specifically dealt with abuse and harassment awareness. Behee said there were about 45 programs in 2021.
Officers trained housing resident assistants, academic advisers and Greek Life representatives, among many others, on harassment and abuse prevention and spoke at new student and new employee orientations.
“The overall theory is when the police department has a better relationship with the community, it lends itself to people being more comfortable reporting to the police and Title IX,” Medders said.
INVESTIGATING REPORTS
The number of reports of abuse deemed valid by Title IX and meet VAWA criteria are listed on the crimes report for all to see.
How the cases are resolved is not made public and the outcomes are almost always unknown except to those involved.
“Complaints are handled as confidentially as possible to protect the rights of both the complainant and the person accused,” according to the university’s harassment complaint procedures.
Title IX officers discuss abuse and harassment cases only in general terms. Medders said most cases do not rise to the level requiring criminal prosecution.
In most cases, Title IX officers use informal resolution intervention to help people work out conflicts and correct inappropriate behavior.
“Informal resolution means … disciplinary action is not required to remedy the situation,” says Title IX guidelines.
For serious or ongoing abuse, investigators conduct interviews, gather evidence and give the accused a chance to respond. If charges are substantiated, the university disciplines or expels the abuser.
“The goal of the process is to seek a resolution acceptable to everyone involved,” the guidelines say.
The police department takes action when there is danger. Last year, university police charged Isac Salas, a 19-year-old man from Missouri City with stalking a student who lived in University Pines.
On April 14, a student reported suspicious behavior and provided the license plate number of the car the suspected stalker was driving. A few days later, officers stopped this car as it was leaving the apartment complex.
At the time, Medders said police had reason to believe Salas was at the apartments to “potentially cause harm to our victim” and had “malicious motivations for being on our campus.”
Salas was booked in Smith County Jail on April 21 and initially held on a $75,000 bond, according to jail records.
BUILDING TRUST
Bumbard also attributed the higher numbers of reports to the willingness of students to speak up when they suspect abuse and harassment.
“We’re seeing among students … almost what I’d call a culture shift in reporting domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault,” he said. “These are things that in the past people didn’t want to talk about. They were not comfortable sharing. Victims usually tried to handle it themselves or take care of it themselves.
“But we are seeing today, especially since Covid, that students are more likely to speak up when they see something wrong,” he continued. “Victims are more likely to seek help.”
Elizabeth Caulkins, a Title IX investigator, presents abuse awareness programs to students.
“I do feel like over the past few years more students are wanting to report,” she said. “They recognize who we (in Title IX) are and that we care. … It is fulfilling to know that the students think that we will help them and do something.”
Caulkins said each report of abuse means at least one person received help.
“I know each of those people received services and that I personally talked to each of those people and that we were there for them,” she said. So regardless of the (punishment) outcome, we were able to intervene.”
A SAFE PLACE
Medder said police and Title IX officers are devoted to keeping UT Tyler safe.
“The police department’s mission statement says that our mission is to create an environment where people can work, live and study without fear. … Because if you are in fear all the time, you can’t do your job. You can’t study safely,” he said. “So we try to do everything we can … to alleviate fear.”
Bumbard said it is wrong to assume that UT Tyler is not safe.
“I would hate that someone would look at the the (SSR) numbers and feel that they are unsafe here at UT Tyler,” he said. “The No. 1 job we have here is providing a safe environment. The things we do for students … are designed to put that person in a safe place.”
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