Though annual security reports may imply otherwise, crime on UNC-System campuses remains low.

Graham Hillard & Natalia Mayorga :

Data “exceptions” reveal the inherent arbitrariness of the Clery Act system.Full disclosure: The authors approached these data expecting to see #MeToo-related spikes in sex-crime accusations in 2017 and 2018, at the height of the “Believe All Victims” frenzy. Yet the numbers don’t bear out that narrative. With exceptions so specific that the institutions themselves felt the need to comment on them (see below), not only rapes but fondlings, dating violence, and stalking incidents saw no dramatic jump between 2016 and 2018. Nor did the number of reports fade in 2019-21 as #MeToo waned as a political force.

Nevertheless, the aforementioned exceptions are worth noting, if only because they reveal the inherent arbitrariness of the Clery Act system. As the following excerpt from UNC-Chapel Hill’s 2019 report reveals, the number of stalking incidents experienced by Chapel Hill students nearly tripled between 2016 and 2017.