Fraternities and Campus Sexual Assault Reports
What Clery Act data show · Federal data, 2007–2024
Ban fraternities? Campuses without them often report more sex offenses, not fewer
The North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) compared the 24 top-ranked schools that banned or never had fraternities (from the top 100 national universities and top 50 liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report's 2027 rankings) with campuses that have them, using the reports every college must file under the Clery Act. In every comparison but one, the schools without fraternities reported as many sex offenses per student, or more.
“Ending sexual assault is everyone’s job, and fraternity men must do their part. The question is what works, and this data doesn’t point to banning fraternities.”
Campuses without fraternities reported more in 5 of 6 cohort comparisons
Sex offense reports per 1,000 students a year: federal data, 2022–2024; schools’ own reports, 2023–2025, for the six Northeast and Mid-Atlantic colleges.
Every statistically significant difference shows higher rates at schools without fraternities. Among similar schools, none is significant. Two broader comparisons are significant but less like-for-like: the size-matched one (matched on size only) and the one against all 508 campuses with an Interfraternity Council (IFC), the student-led council that governs a campus’s fraternities (3.69 vs. 1.31). Small groups can show only large differences. In the school-by-school comparisons, each campus with fraternities was confirmed to include its chapter houses in its Clery count. Full notes, including an Ivy League comparison, are in the report.
Over 18 years, campuses without fraternities reported more in most years, in every cohort
Of the 18 years, the number in which each cohort had the higher average rate. Federal data.
Schools with fraternities reported significantly more in only one year of one comparison (2008, colleges that require four years in college housing), about what chance alone would produce over 18 yearly tests. See the notes below.
“Responsibility rests with the person who commits sexual assault, never with the person harmed.”
Report rates follow similar patterns across different campus profiles
At opposite ends of campus life, small residential liberal arts colleges and large SEC universities, sex offense reports do not rise as fraternity and sorority members make up a larger percentage of the student body. In both groups the trend slopes slightly down.
Top-50 liberal arts colleges
Reports per 1,000 students, by share in a fraternity or sorority.
17 colleges; each dot is one college, and the dashed line shows the trend.
SEC universities
Same measures; note the smaller scales on both axes.
13 universities, each with its chapter houses confirmed in Clery.
Federal Clery data, 2022–2024. Neither downward trend is statistically significant. Participation comes from each school’s Common Data Set, or its own figure where none is given (2024–2026).
"One sexual assault is one too many, on any campus, with or without fraternities."
Reports rose fourfold, then fell, on campuses with and without fraternities
A national rise and fall
Across the 565 campuses studied, the average report rate rose about fourfold, peaking around 2018, then fell 25% by 2022–2024. A statistical test confirmed this shared rise and fall was not a coincidence. The rise spans 2014, when Clery began counting fondling separately from rape.
With or without fraternities, similar colleges followed the same path
Why these colleges: the top-50 liberal arts colleges are the closest apples-to-apples cohort available, the only category with about 20 similar schools on each side, with and without fraternities.
Some argue fraternities discourage reporting. If they did, reports at colleges with fraternities would not have risen and fallen in step with colleges without them. Year after year, for 18 years, they did, to nearly the same levels, and that shared pattern is not statistical chance. Sex offense reports per 1,000 students, each college counted equally; federal Clery data.
Sex offense reports by type, 2014–2024
The study examined federal Clery data from 565 campuses. Raw totals, so large universities weigh heavily; the rate is total reports per 1,000 students.
| Year | Total enrollment | Total reports | By type | Rateper 1,000 students | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rape | Fondling | Statutory rape | ||||
| 2014 | 7,426,583 | 4,865 | 3,377 | 1,467 | 21 | 0.66 |
| 2015 | 7,426,583 | 5,574 | 3,706 | 1,836 | 32 | 0.75 |
| 2016 | 7,630,082 | 6,504 | 4,477 | 2,000 | 27 | 0.85 |
| 2017 | 7,662,190 | 7,600 | 5,053 | 2,520 | 27 | 0.99 |
| 2018 | 7,662,190 | 10,179 | 6,016 | 4,117 | 46 | 1.33 |
| 2019 | 7,592,966 | 8,616 | 4,583 | 3,985 | 48 | 1.13 |
| 2020 | 7,592,966 | 7,481 | 4,268 | 3,185 | 28 | 0.99 |
| 2021 | 7,592,966 | 7,931 | 4,485 | 3,417 | 29 | 1.04 |
| 2022 | 7,838,124 | 7,953 | 4,702 | 3,219 | 32 | 1.01 |
| 2023 | 7,838,124 | 7,531 | 4,206 | 3,287 | 38 | 0.96 |
| 2024 | 7,838,124 | 6,942 | 3,914 | 2,995 | 33 | 0.89 |
2014–2024 shown; before 2014, Clery combined rape and fondling as one category (full table in the report, Appendix J). Incest, the fourth category (0–2 reports a year), is not shown. Enrollment includes graduate students and repeats within each three-year federal file.
What the NIC is calling for
- Prevention: stop harm before it happens, with programs shown to work, for every student, including fraternity members.
- Accountability: hold individuals who commit sexual assault accountable, and confront any culture that excuses it.
- Transparency: encourage reporting and be open about what happens after someone comes forward.
- Research: learn what the data says will actually work.
Download the 92-page report
- The full findings: every comparison, with the tables for each group of schools
- Statistical methods: the tests behind each result, including the size-matched and year-by-year checks
- The 18-year record: federal data for 565 campuses, 2007–2024
- School-by-school figures: for the schools in each comparison
- The exceptions and limits: what the data can and can’t show, plus the independent methods review
To see the backup materials (the Source Documentation, Excel data file and analysis code) or contact the independent reviewer, email pr@nicfraternity.org.
Data limitations
Reports, not assaults
Clery counts incidents reported to the college, not how often they happen. Studies consistently find sexual assaults are underreported.
Comparison, not cause
The report shows how campuses compare. It does not show what causes the differences.
Some campus cohort samples too small
Some comparisons have only three or four schools on a side. With so few, only a large difference can be statistically significant. These comparisons cannot rule out smaller differences in either direction.
Notes on the comparisons
- Top-100 national universities. Four top-100 national universities without fraternities are compared with 75 that have fraternities. The difference is not statistically significant: with only four schools on one side, only a very large difference could be. U.S. News ranks 108 universities in its top 100 because of ties, and 29 are not counted because their fraternity status fits neither group, their chapter houses could not be confirmed as part of their Clery counts, they had an outlier report (one case counted many times), or they are single-sex. The 18-year chart compares 5 universities with 80, adding back one school with an outlier report and five whose chapter houses could not be confirmed in their Clery counts; that difference is significant only when the outlier schools are counted. In single years, campuses without fraternities had a significantly higher rate in five years, and campuses with fraternities in none. Three schools in this comparison have conduct rules on sex outside marriage; see note 8.
- Top-50 liberal arts colleges. Twenty top-50 liberal arts colleges without fraternities are compared with 20 that have them. The difference is not statistically significant because rates vary widely from college to college. U.S. News ranks 53 colleges in its top 50 because of ties, and 13 are not counted because they are single-sex, have no federal data, or fit neither group. The 18-year chart compares 19 colleges with 20, because one college ended fraternities partway through the period, in 2019. No single year showed a significant difference in either direction. None of these colleges has a conduct rule on sex outside marriage (note 8).
- Liberal arts, students must live in college housing all four years. These are the 10 colleges on each side, drawn from the 40 liberal arts colleges in note 2, that require students to live in college housing all four years; the other 20 are not counted because their housing requirement is shorter or could not be confirmed. Their rates are nearly identical, and the difference is not statistically significant; a check for college size also found no difference. Over 18 years, colleges without fraternities reported more in 10 years and colleges with fraternities in 8, with one significant single year each way.
- Six Northeast and Mid-Atlantic colleges. Six top-35 liberal arts colleges in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic that ended fraternities are compared with six similar colleges that kept them, in the same region and ranking range. The 5-of-6 chart uses each college’s own reports for 2023–2025. The difference is almost statistically significant, but six colleges on each side is too few to be sure. The 18-year chart has five colleges without fraternities until 2019, when one more ended them; no single year showed a significant difference in either direction.
- Top-ranked Catholic schools. Four top-ranked Catholic schools without fraternities are compared with three that have them. With so few schools, no difference could be statistically significant, either overall or in any single year. Three of the four schools without fraternities have conduct rules on sex outside marriage; see note 8.
- 24 campuses without fraternities, size-matched to campuses with fraternities. Each of the 24 top-ranked schools without fraternities is compared with the three campuses with fraternities closest to it in enrollment. The difference is statistically significant, but the schools are matched on size only, not on how many students live on campus. Over 18 years, campuses without fraternities had a significantly higher rate in 12 single years, and campuses with fraternities in none. See note 8.
- About these comparisons. Two broader comparisons are statistically significant but less like-for-like: the size-matched comparison (note 6) and a comparison of the 24 top-ranked schools without fraternities with all 508 campuses that have an Interfraternity Council, or IFC, the student-led council that governs a campus’s fraternities (3.69 vs. 1.31 reports per 1,000 students). Against all IFC campuses, schools without fraternities also reported more in all 18 years, though those groups differ in size and type. The 18-year groups differ slightly from the 2022–2024 comparisons, as notes 1, 2 and 4 describe. In the school-by-school comparisons, each campus with fraternities was confirmed to include its chapter houses in its Clery count. Single-sex colleges are not counted on either side, because a college that enrolls only men or only women is not comparable with co-ed campuses, whether or not it has fraternities. Schools are also left out when no federal figures are available or when a single report accounted for 15 or more of a year’s counts, as at one university in the 24-campus comparison; the full report lists every school not counted and why. The full report has complete notes, including an Ivy League comparison.
- Schools with rules on sex outside marriage. Three Catholic universities without fraternities and two Christian universities with them (one Baptist, one affiliated with the Churches of Christ) have conduct rules that reserve sexual activity for marriage. Research at schools with such rules suggests some students may not report an assault for fear of discipline. These schools are kept in the comparisons because removing them would leave only one Catholic school and one top-100 national university without fraternities to compare. Removing these five schools from both sides makes each difference larger: the remaining 21 campuses without fraternities report 4.06 per 1,000 students, compared with 2.61 at size-matched campuses with fraternities. None of the top-50 liberal arts colleges has such a rule.
Published by the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) at nicfraternity.org/research/clery-report. More NIC research: nicfraternity.org/research. NIC represents fraternities and has an interest in this question, which is why the data, code and sources are available on request so the results can be checked independently. Media inquiries or corrections: pr@nicfraternity.org.