Reports for on-campus rapes increased from seven to 13 and reports for off-campus student housing rapes increased from five to 13 from 2014 to 2015, according to WSU’s Oct. 28 annual Security and Fire Report.

Jennifer Murray, the Women’s Resources’ program assistant, said increased reports are paradoxically a good thing, considering that sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the nation. She said she believes the Green Dot program has been a significant cause of this, even though it cannot be statistically proven.

“(We see an) increase in reports due to the fact that students know that they can report safely, and won’t be blamed for the crime or be revictimized,” Murray said.

The 2016 Security and Fire Reports for some other universities have shown similar statistics to WSU. The reported sexual assault statistics for 2014 to 2015 for the University of Washington increased on campus from 10 to 12 and off campus from eight to 16.

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Some, however, did not show such drastic increases. The University of Oregon increased on campus from five to six and off campus from six to seven, while the University of Idaho decreased from six to one on campus and increased from one to three off campus.

“I hope that everyone who is (sexually) assaulted will feel safe asking for help,” Murray said. “I would then hope reports would increase, because people feel safe to report. Then they will decrease, because rape decreases.”

Steve Hansen, WSU assistant police chief, said a possible decrease in the number of rapes is not likely, but the school has been successful in making a more comfortable environment for survivors to report.

“City-wide we are seeing more reported rapes,” Pullman Police Cmdr. Chris Tennant said. “However, behavior hasn’t changed, rapes per capita probably hasn’t changed either. What we have been doing is educating and not victimizing the victims.”

There are programs and educational courses available through WSU Police, the Health & Wellness Center, the Office for Equal Opportunity, the Women’s Resource Center and the Dean of Students Office.