Monday, June 20, 2016

Dubious Data - Ranking colleges based on reported number of rapes - Jake New, Inside Higher Ed

Last week, The Washington Post published an article compiling U.S. Department of Education data on the number of rapes reported on college campuses. “These colleges have the most reports of rape,” read the headline of the article, which included a sortable chart of the data, with Brown University and the University of Connecticut topping the list. “It is really misguided to use sexual assault reports as rankings, because schools with higher rates are actually doing a better job of encouraging reporting and addressing the issue,” Laura Dunn, founder and executive director of the victims' advocacy organization SurvJustice, said. “By ranking schools with higher rates as unsafe, the media's uninformed coverage is actually discouraging schools from better addressing campus sexual assault. We don't want to push reports into the shadows; we want [assaults] to be reported and dealt with appropriately.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/13/advocates-warn-against-ranking-colleges-handling-sexual-assault-based-clery-data