New York’s colleges recorded nearly 4,000 sexual misconduct complaints in 2018, with Cornell and New York University at the top of the list, new state data shows.
The upstate Ivy League school had 282 complaints among a student body of 25,000, while NYU, with an enrollment of 52,000, had 173, according to the state’s new Enough is Enough law, which requires schools to track sexual violence.
But statewide only 66 students accused of misconduct — sexual assault, stalking, domestic or dating violence — were thrown out of school, including two at Cornell and one at NYU.
In general, more students at the public CUNY and SUNY institutions were found responsible for their actions in school disciplinary proceedings than at the state’s private schools.
Brooklyn College history professor KC Johnson said an accused student’s ability to consult a lawyer might help get a less severe penalty.
“Students at the elite private institutions — the Columbias, Cornells, the NYUs — are more likely to be able to have some access to legal counsel than would either SUNY or CUNY students,” Johnson said.
The data, which was released by the state Education Department last month, marks the first full year of reporting under the 2015 Enough is Enough law, which mandates colleges to protect students against sexual violence. But some schools were slow to get on board and a September 2017 state report found 29 schools were still not complying with the law.
The 3,908 documented complaints in 2019 were those made to a college’s Title IX office by a student against another student, a college employee or an unknown third-party.
The data details whether the incident was on or off campus, law enforcement was involved and whether it went through the school’s judicial process or was dropped.
Among New York City private colleges, there were also 59 complaints at Fordham University, 58 at St. John’s, 54 at the Julliard School and 36 at the New School.
On City University of New York campuses, Manhattan and Queensborough community colleges had 27 complaints each.
At CUNY’s John Jay College, which was rocked in 2018 by allegations of sexual abuse and drug use among faculty members, there were 16 complaints.
And at the public Brooklyn College the data showed there were 59 misconduct complaints with 15 students were expelled — the highest number in the state. But a college spokesman said the numbers had been “misreported by an employee who is no longer with the college.” The spokesman said there had been 19 complaints and no expulsions.
The high number of complaints at NYU simply reflected the university’s size as the largest in New York, a spokesman said.
“NYU has robust resources to help survivors, investigate incidents, and reduce the occurrence of sexual misconduct. In our most recent survey, roughly 90 percent of student respondents say NYU takes sexual misconduct seriously, responds to their cases seriously and fairly, and treats them with dignity and respect.” said spokesman John Beckman.
Chantelle Cleary, Cornell’s Title IX coordinator, said the university had “significantly increased its effort to raise awareness around affirmative consent, and to expand resources available to students who may have experienced or witnessed an incident of sexual or related misconduct. We believe these ongoing efforts contribute significantly to the higher level of reporting on our campus.”