CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of sexual assault, rape and fondling

In a Sept. 29 email sent by the Interim Associate Vice President of Public Safety an Campus Operations, Matthew Rushton, released the Annual Security Report documenting “three years of campus crime statistics,” which includes crime rates of sexual violence, hate crimes and many other reported incidences. Additionally, the document outlines “certain security policy statements including sexual assault policies which assure basic victims’ rights, the law enforcement authority of campus police and where students should go to report crimes.” The document is required to be made publicly available through the “Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act” on or before Oct. 1 each year. The act ensures there is complete and substantiated “transparency around campus crime policy and statistics.” 

The findings and policy statements are compiled by the Department of Public Safety and its divisions, including the Brandeis Emergency Medical Corps, Shuttle Services, Parking and Traffic University Police and Emergency Management. A foremost informer of the report are the Brandeis Police Department who are “responsible for the protection of life and property on and within the confines of the 325 acres and over 100 buildings that make up Brandeis University.” Their data, collected from voluntary confidential reports, are counted and disclosed with reporters, victims and offenders remaining anonymous. 

Disclosures within the report make certain the exact tactics and resources used by the Brandeis Police. For instance, the department employs “a chief, two lieutenants, five sergeants, 15 police officers, reserve police officers, and parking enforcement officers” with the occasional addition of “contract security officers with no arrest authority.” Importantly, “supplemental police officers from local law enforcement agencies who have full arrest authority” can also be summoned by the department for support. 

Beyond usual forms of police involvement, the Department of Public Safety offers access to pastoral and professional counselors. A pastoral counselor is “an employee of the university … recognized by [a] religious order or denomination as someone who provides confidential counseling.” Meanwhile, professional counselors are much the same but function in a capacity to “provid[e] psychological counseling to members of the institution’s community … within the scope of his or her license or certification.” Both forms of counselors “are not considered to be campus security authorities for the purposes of the Clery Act and are not required to report crimes for inclusion in the annual disclosure of crime statistics.” Nonetheless, they are encouraged to report to the University when appropriate, with information that is “personally non-identifiable” documented in the annual report. 

The Brandeis Police Department places great emphasis in the report on their “response to sexual and gender violence.” According to them, “When you report a rape or sexual assault to the University police, you are assured of immediate physical protection and transportation to a medical facility.” However, in order to pursue legal or criminal proceedings against a party, the alleged victim of the misconduct must file a “Formal Complaint with the Office of Equal Opportunity.” Currently, these complaints require an accompanying statement describing the incident, witness information, documentation of harassment — through emails, text messages and other forms of communication.— and a review of the non-retaliation policy by the complainant and witnesses. Only after doing so may a person gain access to investigative procedure. Notably, the University itself also has the right to initiate a formal complaint against a student, staff or faculty member. Cases of this status go directly to the Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Jacob Tabor. 

Alongside the Brandeis Police Department’s data, Environmental Health & Safety, the Department of Community Living, Facilities and Waltham Fire collaborate to release an Annual Fire Safety Report. In their findings, every residential facility had a full sprinkler system, Class A fire extinguisher devices and fire alarm monitoring done on-site by the Brandeis Police Department. All residence halls except for Massell Quad, Rosenthal Quad and Hassenfeld-Krivoff in East Quad had carbon monoxide detectors. Additionally, each hall participated in one fire drill per academic year. In 2022, there were fires in Village A and Ridgewood C. The fire in Ridgewood C was caused by a candle and created an estimated $100-999 worth of damage. Also in 2023, the building had an electrical fire. There were no injuries and there have been no on-campus fires besides these in the documented years. 

The Annual Security Report statistics “generally reflect the number of criminal incidents reported to the various authorities” with arrests and references to campus judicial authorities being documented, not the number of offenses committed. Under this criteria, there were two robberies, three aggravated assaults and four burglaries in the past three years. One crime was declared to be unfounded, meaning law enforcement determined the report to be false or baseless. There were zero arrests related to liquor law violations, drug abuse violations or illegal weapons possessions. However, there was one referral for disciplinary action in 2022 against a party illegally possessing a weapon and four violations for those abusing drugs, with none occurring last year. There were 212 liquor law violations requiring referral for disciplinary action. 89 of them happened last year which outpaced 2023 by 20 violations and 2022 by 35 violations. 

In the past three years, there have been three rapes and seven cases of fondling. Of these 10 on-campus sexual offences, eight happened in residence halls. Additionally, around two-thirds of offenses under the Violence Against Women Act, which include dating violence, domestic violence and stalking, occurred in residence halls. Of those, the most apparent were cases of dating violence in 2023 with eight instances, five taking place in student housing. 

There have been nine hate crimes committed on campus since 2023 as none were reported in 2022. These crimes were characterized either as “on-campus vandalism of property” or residence-hall-based “intimidation.” Seven cases were motivated by religious bias, though no religious affiliation was specified in the report.  In 2024, three religiously-motivated vandalisms, one racially-motivated vandalism and one gender identity-motivated vandalism took place. This data expresses that on-campus hate crimes are increasing each year. Underlying political tensions are likely contextual to these attacks. 

Overall, while the University’s rate of sexual offenses has decreased over the years, the same can not be said for hate crimes. The report suggests religious bias is the most abundant motivator of vandalism and intimidation on campus, so far as these crimes require arrest or disciplinary referral. What was a popular throughline, regardless of category, is that most crimes are happening within residence halls. All crimes noted are of course on campus, though the extent to which they happen in residence halls is overwhelming. Importantly, these statistics reported by the Department of Public Safety illuminate where Brandeis Police or administrators may be willing to invest more resources in crime prevention. Similar to the specified police actions against sex crimes, policies meant to curb hate crime transgressions may be expanded or introduced in coming years.