The silent epidemic of sex assault is a little less silent at UC Davis.

The campus's last Clery Act report, tallying crime for the calendar year 2005, listed 50 reported sex assaults. None of the nine other UC campuses, some with nearly the same enrollment as Davis, reported more than 14.

UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said he does not believe the numbers signal a higher incidence of sex assault on the Davis campus. Rather, he credited the "greater prominence, visibility and scope" of the 27-year-old Campus Violence Prevention Program, and its success at making victims feel as comfortable as possible when making such reports.

This is how UC Davis approaches the problem, and Vanderhoef has called on the nine other UC campuses to follow along in a united effort, with the overall goal of reducing the number of sex assaults throughout the entire UC system.

"People have to believe that there is help out there, and that it's true and honest," Vanderhoef said during a recent interview in his Mrak Hall office, "so that it is a helpful and not a humiliating experience."

His fellow chancellors backed him up at a meeting last month.

UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake said his campus "welcomes the opportunity to collaborate on this important project."

"We have a host of programs in place to assist victims, educate potential victims and — at least as importantly — potential offenders," Drake said by e-mail. "We look forward to partnering with the UC campuses and other institutions of higher education to help reduce the incidence of these assaults."

UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang said this by e-mail: "We are all struggling to find effective ways to support and assist survivors of sexual assault, to promote the reporting of sexual assault to campus authorities and law enforcement, and ultimately, to decrease the incidence of sexual assault among our student body.

"A systemwide task force that focuses on these three areas could greatly assist the campuses in their individual efforts to combat sexual assault."

Since Vanderhoef's Jan. 10 presentation to the Council of Chancellors, the U.S. Department of Justice invited UC Davis to apply for a $1 million grant to be used to help other UC campuses on this issue. Jennifer Beeman, director of the Campus Violence Prevention Program, is preparing the grant application. To start with, she attended a Justice Department briefing last week in Washington, D.C., and she is talking with the other UC campuses about their participation.

The Justice Department has given nearly $1.9 million to the Davis program alone since 1999.

One of the program's goals is to get more women to come forward if they are victimized. Vanderhoef said "the multiplier effect will kick in as these women talk to more women," and they begin to trust the campus programs that take sex assault reports.

By reporting sex crimes either confidentially to the Campus Violence Prevention Program or to law enforcement with the assistance of the CVPP, the victims can get the help that they need, Beeman said.

"They need to know that you are going to be supportive and let them go at their own pace," she said.

The Campus Violence Prevention Program sends out a sex assault response team with a counselor-victim advocate and a specially trained campus police officer, who treat victims with dignity and respect, understanding and compassion.

"I can't tell you the difference it makes," Beeman said. "It makes an immeasurable difference."

She said Davis is the only UC campus that provides such response 24 hours a day, every day.

Counselors accompany victims every step of the way, through medical exams, through meetings with the police, through the legal process. Not every case goes the legal route — only those in which the victim decides to file a criminal complaint.

A UC Davis survey in 2002-03 showed that 73 percent of the student body knew of the Campus Violence Prevention Program and its resources for victims, and that the number of victims coming in for help rose 130 percent over a two-year period.

An assistant U.S. attorney general took note of these findings when she delivered a speech in March 2004 to the American Council on Education.

Deborah Daniels, who at the time headed the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs, also spoke of another finding from the UC Davis survey, stating that there had been "significant changes in student attitudes regarding campus violence, including increased concern for issues regarding violence against women."

Because of UC Davis' success with Justice Department grants, Vanderhoef had wanted to get other UC campuses involved even before he learned about the availability of more federal money.

"We had these very good programs that tried to make women who had suffered sexual assault feel more comfortable in seeking assistance and let someone know it had happened."

So he wrote a letter to his fellow chancellors last December, and made his presentation to them in January.

"I propose we consider a UC-wide sexual assault education-prevention approach to strengthen our programs and to maximize our individual efforts," he wrote in his Dec. 6 letter. "I'm convinced that, working together, we can more effectively confront this 'silent epidemic' that surely exists on all of our campuses."

He described the Council of Chancellors as "quite enthusiastic about doing this. Nobody was against going ahead" with establishing a program like the one at UC Davis.

'A real model'

UC Vice President for Students Affairs Judy Sakaki said she is "actively pursuing discussions with my colleagues, the Student Affairs vice chancellors across the system, about the exact form and dimensions such a collaboration might take."

Sakaki, who up until Jan. 1 was Student Affairs vice chancellor at Davis, said by e-mail: "I believe the Campus Violence Prevention Program at UC Davis has been a real model for the rest of the UC system in facilitating close collaboration among units and departments to address sexual assault.

"We have been very successful in securing Department of Justice grants and other support to fund these efforts, which have yielded many good results in terms of heightened education, prevention and awareness. I believe the campus is a safer place now than it has ever been, in good part as a direct result of this program."

She said the UC system is "very likely" to pursue Justice Department funding, with the grant effort to be coordinated jointly by her office and the UC Davis Campus Violence Prevention Program, and with Davis as the lead campus for the "flagship" grant proposal.

Vanderhoef said he was indeed proud of the program's work. "The only criticism is there's so much more to do," he said.

By this he meant that, while UC Davis logged 50 Clery reports of sex assault in 2005, the actual number was probably higher, based on national studies.

One, by the federal government's National Institute of Justice, concluded that an estimated 5 percent of college women experienced a completed or attempted rape in a given year, and that over the course of a college career, the percentage might climb to between 20 percent and 25 percent.

At first, Vanderhoef was skeptical of such high assault numbers. But women are not, he said, something he learned by talking with them. "Now I'm convinced."

He added: "To say that it is a silent epidemic is not overstating the case based on what these surveys are telling us."

Fighting the problem is not an easy thing do, he said, "because no one wants to see those kinds of numbers."

UC Davis' numbers, though, show Vanderhoef that his campus is making headway in breaking the culture of silence.

'Sexual assault is not tolerated' on campus

By Dave Jones

So, what makes UC Davis Campus Violence Prevention program stand out?

First, it expends "incredible effort" on reaching out to new students, who are among the most vulnerable to sex assault, said Jennifer Beeman, the program's director.

New-student orientation includes a presentation on the Campus Violence Prevention Program, and every student leaves orientation with a CD describing the program further.

"They get the message that sexual assault is not tolerated on this campus, and here is where to go for help or questions," Beeman said.

She said her program also provides extensive training for "gatekeepers" — people who are most likely to come in contact with sex assault victims. The gatekeepers include resident assistants and other Student Housing staff, teaching assistants and Student Affairs staff.

"We discuss with them how to make referrals and best assist students," Beeman said.

Outreach efforts also take place at fraternities and sororities, and among athletes.

One message that is given is where to go to report sex assaults: the Campus Violence Prevention Program. Its offices provide confidential, comfortable meeting space, and there is even a separate entrance from the Police Department.

Beyond accompaniment to medical exams, support in filing police reports and assistance with restraining orders, the program offers help with academic and housing issues that may crop up for sex assault victims, say, if they fall behind in their schoolwork or need to live apart from someone accused of attacking them.

The Campus Violence Prevention Program is in the Transportation and Parking Services building just north of the new west entry garage. The telephone number is (530) 752-3299.