This article contains mention of sexual assault.
The number of reports of sexual misconduct to UBC grew significantly last year, but the rise in reported cases isn’t necessarily a negative thing, according to the UBC Investigations Office (IO).
Fifty-five incidents of sexual misconduct were reported between May 2021 and February 2022. That’s a doubling from the year before when 30 sexual assaults were reported. Before the pandemic, the number of sexual misconduct reports that the IO received remained relatively constant between 2018 and 2021, with an average of 33 cases.
“The jump has just occurred in the last year,” said Carly Stanhope, director of investigations at the IO. “So we don't know if this is a trend that's going to continue ... or if it might be pandemic-related.”
To keep up with the caseload, the IO has hired an additional investigator to increase its bandwidth to investigate these complaints.
Since the beginning of COVID-19, both the IO and the UBC AMS-run Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) have seen a dramatic increase in demand for services. According to a national survey in 2020, the pandemic has contributed to more frequent and severe sexual assaults and violence nationwide during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns, where people stayed indoors and out of public eye.
“Most assaults are with non-strangers and often with people that you are intimately connected with,” said Scott Anderson, a professor in the department of philosophy. He added that home isolation puts people at greater risk of being trapped with a potentially violent partner.
To address increasing demands for sexual violence support services, the SASC has extended working hours into evening, weekends and statutory holidays to suit needs.
“We have gotten a recent funding increase so we're hoping to expand our capacity to provide services and support,” said Aashna Josh, manager of the SASC.
However, whether the increase in sexual misconduct reported to the IO is directly related to the pandemic remains to be seen, according to Stanhope.
“We actually don't see the rise in reported cases as necessarily a negative thing,” said Stanhope. “The rising cases mean that the UBC community is more aware of the rights that they have to a safe environment, and that they trust that the Investigations Office is going to respond to their complaints in a fair, impartial and trauma-informed manner.”
Since the pandemic, the IO has moved its services online, which could make reporting a more attractive option. Individuals can file a report online and then engage with an investigator on Zoom, making their participation in the investigation process completely remote.
“We're thinking that this might be more accessible and lower barriers to reporting for some people,” said Stanhope. “And so this is an option that we're going to continue to provide post-pandemic.”
Stanhope also suggested that due to remote learning and working, people could be less likely to feel the “community fallout” that can arise from an investigation as severely as when they're working in person. That could also contribute to an increase in reports.
However, given the size of UBC, it's almost certain that the total number of assaults is much much larger than the number that is reported over any given time period, according to Anderson.
“What we're looking at is, in any case, almost a small fraction of the number of assaults that are actually being suffered.”