UVM sees more reports of sex assault, but not to police

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Sexual assaults reported to counselors or advocacy groups at the University of Vermont have more than quadrupled since 2002, but only one such case was reported to police during the year ended in June.

Campus police Chief Gary Margolis says much of the reporting is likely attributable to increased education and advocacy around the issue of sexual violence.

Federal law requires colleges and universities to maintain statistics on campus crimes, and the figures kept by UVM police include anonymous reports of sexual assaults made to mental health counselors and groups such as the Rape Crisis Center.

Such reports jumped from 16 in fiscal year 2002 to 16 in 2006 and 36 in fiscal 2007.

Margolis says that in a majority of the cases, the attacker is someone the victim knows.

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