“We are proud of our record”: A Brief Timeline of Rape at UCLA

The University of California, Los Angeles has historically ranked highly among universities nationwide for the quality of its academics and research programs, but the university also has the honor of ranking first among universities for reported rapes.

In 2010 the Center for Investigative Reporting noted that UCLA had more reported rapes on campus than any other UC campus. That year 36 rapes were reported to campus police, which accounts for about 1 reported rape per 1000 students. Second place went to UC Davis which trailed behind UCLA with .74 rapes per 1000 students, or 23 total reported rapes.

That same year NPR covered the CIR report and interviewed then public policy director Daniel Carter about why UCLA’s ranking was so high. Carter explained that the UC Police Department has created a campus climate that makes students more comfortable with reporting sexual assaults.

Fast forward to 2012. Business Insider created a report on the country’s most dangerous campuses based on information gleaned from FBI statistics on violent crimes and property crimes. UCLA ranked #1 on BI’s list. UCLA Director of Media Relations Phil Hampton got pretty defensive about the article. He’s quoted as saying

"Safety is a priority at UCLA, and we are proud of our record. UCLA police take reports of crimes committed not only on university-owned and university-operated properties both on campus and off, but also crimes committed in neighboring off-campus areas where UCLA police have concurrent jurisdiction with other law enforcement agencies. Our students feel safe. To conclude that UCLA somehow is dangerous is a reckless mischaracterization of data."

Even more recently, UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero hired notorious rape apologist Steve Alford as the new men’s basketball coach. This anonymous petition with documentation outlines how Alford intimidated basketball player and rapist Pierre Pierce’s victim in order to silence her and force her to find and “informal” solution to this “interpersonal problem.”

On April 12, 2013 the UCLA student newspaper reported that Alford publicly apologized for his statements in defense of Pierce. Alford’s apology came in the wake of news reports about UCLA water polo player Hakop Kaplanyan’s “alleged” rape and arrest.  The Daily Bruin reports that Kaplanyan was arrested and suspended from the university, but is in the process of appealing his suspension because he wants to continue attending classes.

And finally one month ago UCLA student Paul Meyer tried to rape and murder a woman at a frat party on campus.