OPHD Trends: 2018-2022

Trends in SVSH reporting

As seen in the accompanying figure, the 2021-2022 academic year saw a spike in SVSH cases reported to OPHD, slightly higher than the total in 2018-19, the first year to be covered by an SVSH Annual Report. As was discussed in the 2021-22 Annual Report, the lower reporting figures for the two intervening years are likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to shelter-at-home orders in March 2020, the number of students (and employees) living and working on campus dropped dramatically, only returning to pre-pandemic levels in the summer of 2021. Setting aside the pandemic years, then, the comparison between 2018-19 and 2021-22 reveals a small increase in reports. (Figures for 2017-2018 were comparable to those for 2018-2019, but are not shown in the accompanying graph due to differences in how data was quantified at the time.)

As discussed in previous Annual Reports, an increase in reports to OPHD may reflect an increase in awareness of and confidence in the reporting mechanism, or an increase in actual incidents, or both.