CSU under investigation

By Lyndsey Shinoda
Daily Forty-Niner

California State University will be investigated for underreporting sexual assault crimes on campus, according to a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Education.

However, it has not been reported when the investigation will take place.

The total number of reported sexual assaults and rapes at Cal State Long Beach are two in 1995-97, one in 1998 and two in 1999. These include forcible rape, non-forcible rape, attempts to commit rape and forcible fondling, according to University Police.

"We don't try to hide anything. We have no reason to," said Sgt. Madonna Gage of University Police. "But there's a lot of things going on in the dorms that aren't reported."

The most recently publicized instance of rape occurred in the Parkside Commons dormitories March 20, 2000. There was some concern on campus that the rape was not reported in a timely fashion, since students were not made aware of the rape until two weeks after the fact.

"The case was reported in the required timeline," said Capt. Stan Skipworth of University Police. "We were concerned with trying to contact all of the parties involved."

Skipworth added that the police could only comment on what is reported to them, which reflects on the current statistics.

CSULB will be reviewed along with the 22 other CSU campuses to see if the police are following proper procedure in regards to reporting these crimes.

The announcement followed an investigation by the Sacramento Bee that uncovered the fact that some UC campuses hide their sex crime statistics in the "physical abuse" category and do not count some sexual assaults.

The Sacramento Bee also reported that the Department of Education received these types of complaints from CSU Chico and CSU Fullerton.

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