Big Ten Dominates Latest Reported College Rape and Sexual Offenses
Big Ten Dominates Latest Reported College Rape and Sexual Offenses
Seven Big Ten Schools Rank in Top 15 as Students Return to Campus
Big Ten Dominates Latest Reported College Rape and Sexual Offenses
Seven Big Ten Schools Rank in Top 15 as Students Return to Campus
Advocacy Group Releases 2024 U.S. Department of Education Clery Act Data in Advance of August and September Campus Return
(USA) — My Daughter's Team, an advocacy organization devoted to reducing rape, sexual violence, incest, female genital mutilation, and trafficking, released its latest review of reported rape and sexual offenses at NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision universities.
The analysis uses the most recent data available through the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool. The Department's 2025 data release includes reported incidents for 2022, 2023, and 2024. The most recent incident year is 2024.
The Big Ten Conference led all FBS conferences in raw reported sex offenses in 2024, with 944 reported incidents among the 18 Big Ten schools included in the analysis. Seven Big Ten schools finished among the national Top 15: Ohio State, UCLA, Iowa, Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, and Michigan State.
The Big 12 ranked second with 735 reported incidents, followed by the SEC with 465 and the ACC with 376.
Statement by My Daughter's Team
"Every August, America celebrates the return of college football. Stadiums fill. Television networks countdown to kickoff. Universities promote football schedules, tailgates, and traditions.
"But August and September are also the months when millions of young people arrive on college campuses — many living away from home for the first time, attending their first college parties, and encountering alcohol, drugs and unfamiliar social environments.
"There is another preseason discussion America needs to have: student safety.
"These numbers are not predictions. They are what universities themselves reported under federal law. They deserve attention from parents, students, university presidents, trustees, coaches and communities before the first football is kicked off."
Top 15 FBS Schools — 2024 Reported Clery Sex Offenses
Utah — 229
Ohio State — 134
UCLA — 118
Colorado — 116
Virginia — 83
Iowa — 78
Penn State — 77
Michigan — 73
Indiana — 72
Kentucky — 61
California-Berkeley — 59
Liberty — 58
Texas State — 58
Kansas — 53
Michigan State — 53
For purposes of this analysis, reported sex offenses include rape, fondling, incest, and statutory rape.
The analysis separately reviews where reported incidents occurred. Residence-hall incidents are identified separately because residence halls are a subset of on-campus reporting and should not be added twice. The principal totals combine on-campus, qualifying non-campus property, and public property incidents reported under Clery Act geography requirements.
Three-Year Reported Totals — 2022 through 2024
Among the largest three-year totals:
Ohio State — 740
Utah — 540
UCLA — 310
Michigan — 270
Penn State — 260
Colorado — 220
Texas A&M — 214
California-Berkeley — 211
Iowa — 207
Indiana — 202
The three-year data demonstrate why a single year should not be viewed in isolation. Reporting can fluctuate substantially from year to year, and reported totals do not necessarily measure the underlying prevalence of sexual violence.
Top 15 by Reported Incidents per 1,000 Students
Because universities vary dramatically in enrollment, My Daughter's Team also calculated reported Clery sex offenses per 1,000 students:
Utah — 6.21
Rice — 3.24
Virginia — 3.14
Colorado — 2.99
Iowa — 2.53
UCLA — 2.49
Stanford — 2.47
Ohio State — 2.18
Tulane — 2.04
Tulsa — 2.04
Vanderbilt — 1.84
Kansas — 1.78
New Mexico — 1.77
Kentucky — 1.76
West Virginia — 1.65
The raw-number rankings and enrollment-adjusted rankings tell different stories. Larger universities naturally have more students and therefore more opportunities for reported incidents. Both measures should be considered.
Reporting Does Not Equal Prevalence
My Daughter's Team cautions against interpreting a higher reported number as proof that one university is necessarily more dangerous than another.
Higher reported totals can reflect more incidents, but they can also reflect stronger reporting systems, increased awareness, greater student willingness to report, or a combination of those factors.
Conversely, a low reported number does not necessarily demonstrate that sexual violence is rare.
The latest Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey found that only 23.6% of rape and sexual-assault victimizations nationally were reported to police in 2024. That means approximately 76.4% were not reported to police.
"When a survivor reports sexual violence, the report itself should not be treated as a failure by the university," My Daughter's Team stated. "Universities should be judged not merely by whether reports exist, but by whether students feel safe reporting, whether complaints are taken seriously, whether offenders are held accountable, and whether institutions aggressively work to prevent the next assault."
A Different Kind of Preseason
My Daughter's Team believes college student safety should receive the same sustained public attention every August that college football receives.
Parents preparing to send sons and daughters away to college should talk openly about alcohol, drugs, consent, bystander intervention, fraternity and party environments, personal safety, and how to report sexual violence.
Universities should use the opening weeks of every semester to repeatedly communicate reporting options, consent standards, prevention programs, transportation and escort services, and resources available to survivors.
Sexual violence on college campuses should not be accepted as an unavoidable part of college life.
It's time to protect our daughters and sons. It's time to make student safety part of the preseason conversation.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool, institution-reported Clery Act statistics.
Campus Safety and Security: U.S. Department of Education.
National reporting data: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization, 2024, National Crime Victimization Survey.
Methodology and Important Note
For this analysis, My Daughter's Team reviewed NCAA FBS institutions and calculated reported sex offenses as the sum of rape, fondling, incest, and statutory rape. The principal geographic total includes on-campus, qualifying non-campus property, and public property.
Residence-hall reports are a subset of on-campus reports and are therefore shown separately but are not added again to the total.
Under the Clery Act, “noncampus property” does not mean all privately owned off-campus apartments, houses, bars, or other locations frequented by students. It refers to qualifying property owned or controlled by the institution or qualifying student organizations under federal reporting rules.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics figure stating that 23.6% of rape/sexual-assault victimizations were reported to police is a national estimate from the National Crime Victimization Survey. It is not a campus-specific reporting rate and should not be multiplied by an individual university's Clery count to describe the actual number of assaults at that university. Clery reporting and reporting to police are not identical systems.
Reported Clery statistics should therefore be understood as a measure of reported incidents, not a definitive measurement of the true prevalence of sexual violence at any individual institution.
My Daughter's Team
www.mydaughtersteam.com
Spokesperson:
Kelly Lewis
Lewis Strategic
570.510.7745
Kelly@LewisStrategic.com