What happened at Cornell wasn’t a one-off instance. Rape and sexual assault happen every-where, including UWRF.
While UWRF is often viewed as a safe campus, the 2025 Annual Security Report stated that there were 15 reported cases of sexual abuse in 2025. Eleven of those 15 cases were classified as rape.
The 2025 total is down from 17 reported sex offenses in 2024. But 15 is still too high.
Those figures also represent only the reported cases. PBS has previously reported that only 20% of campus sexual assaults are reported to authorities.
Very few reported sexual assault cases end up in official hearings at UWRF. April Chaney, UWRF’s Title IX director since 2023, said, “Since I’ve been here, we haven’t had one go to a hearing. People may pursue other things. They might pursue an informal resolution, which is somewhat like a mediation approach. So, it’s not that they aren’t seek-ing out some kind of resolution. People just may not be up for the formal investigation.”
In 2025, one reported rape case and one reported fondling case occurred on non-campus property. In the campus security report, non-campus property is defined as “any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution; or any building or property that is owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct sup-port of, or in relation to, the institution’s educational purposes, is frequently used by students and is not within the same reasonable contiguous geographic area of the institution.”
All three fraternity houses at UWRF would fall under this definition of non-campus property. The Student Voice was unable to confirm whether either of the two reported non-campus sexual assault cases in 2025 occurred at fraternity houses.
The period between freshman orientation and Thanksgiving break, when more than 50% of college sexual assaults occur, is commonly known as the Red Zone. University officials are aware of this phenomenon, and it is one reason first-year students are required to complete a Canvas course on Sexual Violence Awareness and Prevention. However, as confirmed by Chaney, this year’s deadline for completing the course has been extended.
“The issue we were encountering was that a lot of people weren’t finishing it by November and it was just hard for them to get it done their first semester. So, we’re giving them through winter break to finish it and then the holds will go on. So, we’re extending it a little bit, but they will still get holds [on their classes] if they don’t complete it,” Chaney said.
The Annual Security Report claims that UWRF is a “safety leader among Wisconsin college campuses.” Campus Police Chief Karl Fleury repeatedly emphasized UWRF’s safety and directed the Student Voice to online resources regarding the claim.
Various outlets rank colleges by safety using different methodologies, and where UWRF falls de-pends on the criteria used. Some rankings place UWRF among Wisconsin’s safest college campuses, while others place it in the lower half of Wisconsin institutions on certain safety measures.
One concern raised by members of the Student Voice editorial board involved the distribution of security cameras across campus. Some buildings have significantly more cameras than others. This difference is particularly noticeable in residence halls. Grimm and McMillan halls each have two security cameras, while Hathorn Hall and Ames Suites have seven and six cameras, respectively.
Fleury said of the cameras, “It’s a process. We are trying to balance replacing existing cameras with getting new cameras.”
Residence Life Director for Community and Student Development Jenn Rasset added, “Over the last couple of years we have put in cameras in the lobbies [of residence halls]. We have done all kinds of different things to improve safety like switching our on-call structures, making sure that we have people readily available.”
Rasset said she wants students to know that the university continues looking for ways to improve.
“We are always about doing better. We need to be able to pivot and adjust to the needs of the students that we’re trying to serve. So, if those needs are not being served, we want to help. We do what we think is best. But sometimes we need to be more specific. So, please, if you ever don’t feel comfortable, let us know. Go with your Spidey sense. If something doesn’t feel right, say something. Let us investigate it. Let us look into it. Let us look at it, and we can figure it out. We always want to do better.”
The numbers reported in the Annual Security Report may be lower than previous years, but they are not zero. UWRF can be a generally safe campus while still acknowledging that sexual assault remains a reality for some students. Prevention efforts, reporting resources and campus conversations about sexual violence remain important because every student deserves to feel safe.
