But is sexual assault and abuse really an Adventist problem? To take a deeper look into this question, I looked into the Clery reports of all 12 Adventist institutions in the United States. These reports are required by The Clery Act, which demands that institutions report statistics on certain crimes, including sex offenses. 1
Above are the statistics of the sexual offenses for each university in the last three reported years, which ranged from 2016 to 2019 depending on the institution. For more detailed information, simply visit the safety page of any of these institutions and look for their annual safety report.
Also, it should be noted that there are different ways to interpret these statistics. Just because one institution has higher rates of reporting does not necessarily mean that it is not happening just as much or more on other campuses. The institution may possibly have a better method of reporting, which may lead to more survivors coming forward.
It should also be noted that most sexual assaults go unreported, therefore it is likely that the rates are much higher. RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) reports with information from the Department of Justice that about three out of four cases of sexual assaults go unreported.2
These considerations should be maintained until more data can be collected.
1https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2017-032/introduction.html
2 https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system