Film ‘The Hunting Ground’ Misrepresents Harvard Sexual Assault Statistics

Article here. Excerpt:

'The project aimed to draw attention to the issue and create “activity for change,” according to Kirby Dick, the film’s writer and director whose previous work has been nominated for an Academy Award. Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the film has drawn national attention and received a number of favorable reviews. A New York Times review called the film a “must-watch work of cine-activism, one that should be seen by anyone headed to college and by those already on campus.” The Boston Globe gave it three and a half stars.

The film, however, presents at least some information about Harvard inaccurately.

In one sequence, a series of slides lists various schools and the number of sexual assaults reported there in a given time period compared to the number that led to expulsion. The film lists that from 2009-2013, Harvard College saw 135 cases of reported sexual assault, but only 10 expulsions.

Those numbers are misleading. According to Dick, filmmakers arrived at the 135 number through criminal statistics made public by Harvard as required by the Clery Act, but, contrary to what the film states, those numbers do not necessarily represent only incidents at Harvard College. The Clery Act statistics available specify on which campus at Harvard various crimes occurred, and whether they happened in a campus, residential, off-campus, or public setting, but they do not break down offenses by individual school.

Harvard College has roughly 6,400 students, while Harvard University as a whole includes about 20,000.'