The total number of sex offenses in 2018 is much higher than that of past years because the statistics include some sexual assault reports against USC former campus gynecologist George Tyndall, according to the newly released annual security report.
The report shows 92 reports of rape and 25 reports of fondling at the University Park Campus area in 2018, a rise from 17 rape reports and 17 fondling reports in 2017.
In an email to the USC community, Senior Vice President for Administration David Wright attributes the increase to including 68 rape allegations and four fondling reports against Tyndall. These 72 incidents were reported to the university in 2018 but allegedly occurred during Tyndall’s time at USC, between 1989 and 2016.
“In keeping with guidance from the Department of Education, the university has sought to classify and account for all Tyndall-related conduct reported to designated campus officials in 2018 in the annual statistics,” Wright wrote in his email.
For incidents unrelated to Tyndall in 2018, there were 24 reports of rape and 21 reports of fondling.
In the report, a note under the statistics chart states that USC is aware of 762 current and former students who filed lawsuits in state court and 49 current and former students who are plaintiffs in one consolidated federal court action against Tyndall. USC Vice President of Ethics and Compliance Stacy Giwa said in an interview that the number is up-to-date.
Giwa said that most of the 811 cases are not counted into the annual security report statistics because the guidance from the Department of Education was that a lawsuit itself does not meet one of the requirements for the Clery Act.
“Even if we take all of these concerns seriously, but to count them in the Clery statistics, we must meet the federal law which requires that it be reported to a Campus Security Authority within Clery geography,” she said.
According to USC Department of Public Safety, the Clery Act defines a Campus Security Authority as any of the following categories: DPS, any non-DPS individuals who have responsibility for campus security and USC officials who have significant responsibility for student and campus activities, including, but not limited to, student housing, student discipline and campus judicial proceedings.
Giwa said USC has committed to the Department of Education that the university will revise the statistics upward when it gathers additional information that reveals more people reported to a Campus Security Authority. She added that some of those concerns that are not counted toward the Clery Act may have raised serious issues that go beyond medical practice or may even violate policy or laws.
“Just because we can’t count something at this time as a clear statistics, that doesn’t mean it’s not important...,” she said. “Again, we have committed to revising these statistics quarterly, or as needed as we gather additional information.”
The Department of Education said in a statement to Annenberg Media that it will not comment on any particular school’s Annual Security Report.
“However, the Department routinely provides guidance—at institutions’ request—about complying with Clery requirements, including statistical disclosures in the annual security report. The Department’s guidance is intended to help institutions comply; institutions apply general guidance to their own reports and information, and then compile and disclose their own statistics. ” the statement said.
After the news broke in the summer of 2018, USC has hired female gynecologists, created Office of the Ombuds and incorporated the health center under the Keck School of Medicine.
“We deeply regret that any student felt uncomfortable, unsafe, or violated in connection with their university experience. The university is committed to preventing and responding effectively to all forms of misconduct including sexual and gender-based harassment and violence,” Wright wrote in his email.
The number of robberies increased from 20 in 2017 to 33 in 2018, including six on-campus robbery reports, according to the report.
DPS Assistant Chief David Carlisle said that 13 robbery cases did not involve USC students and the majority of robbery cases occurred in the area of Exposition Blvd and Vermont. Carlisle said that area is a major area where the metro line picks up or drops off passengers.
“We formed a crime reduction team. It's a specialized unit, whose mission is to suppress robberies and solve them and prevent them from happening in the future,” he said. “Because of the connection with the metro line, which LAPD provides security for, are working in collaboration and partner with the LAPD transit division to be more highly visible on the train platforms and to develop specific strategies to reduce robberies.”
The number of burglaries decreased from 43 in 2017 to 34 in 2018.
“We have a 21% decrease in burglaries and we attribute that to really high visibility and aggressive posture of our officers on campus,” Carlisle said.
The liquor law violations dropped from 841 cases in 2017 to 763 in 2018, while the number of drug violations increased from 108 to 208.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act is federal legislation that requires all colleges and universities nationwide that receive any sort of federal funding to publish an annual security report by October 1 each year. Carlisle said one purpose of the report is to offer an apple to apple comparisons of crimes and safety among universities.
“We are subject to fines if we underreport crime. We are also subject to be fined, upon an audit for it, if we overreport crime,” he said. “So we are reporting crimes in the annual security report consistent with the rules established under the Clery Act and under the guidance of the Department of Education.”
DPS is also mandated to produce a daily crime log, which is a brief summary of the date, time location of all the calls the department received, but not all the calls are included in the Clery report.
Carlisle said USC President Carol Folt made it clear that she wants DPS to be open and that “for the entire university that students safety is our highest priority.”
Update at 1:49 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2019: The story was updated with a statement from the Department of Education.