Isabel Bustos, Lily Huynh, Nina To/The Cougar
Reports of violence against women increased 61.11% from 2024 to 2025, according to the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, which was released on Sept. 30. Violence against women includes dating violence, domestic violence and stalking.
Dating violence experienced the sharpest surge, rising from 18 in 2024 to 41 reported incidents in 2025. Domestic violence cases nearly doubled over the same period, rising from nine reports to 17. Stalking cases saw the slightest increase, moving from 27 to 29.
The relative share of violence against women crimes as a percentage of total crimes on campus increased from 20% to 39% from 2024 to 2025.
While a rise in statistics can indicate a growing safety concern, University officials and experts note that higher numbers can also simply reflect an increase of student awareness.
“There is a greater awareness, from the Me Too movement all the way to the Cornell incident,” said associate professor of sociology Sheila Katz. “There is more of an awareness of what is considered sexual assault and that reporting is okay.”
On-campus resources like Sexual Misconduct Support Services provide individualized safety planning. Students are most likely to come forward and report a violence in a safe environment.
However, due to the implementation of Senate Bill 17, public Texas Universities are prohibited from maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion offices.
At UH, the former Women and Gender Resource Center was consolidated into the Parent and Family Office in fall 2025.
While administrative offices manage Title IX compliance and official investigations, Katz emphasized on that informal resource center serving as an approachable space for students to process traumatic events before pursuing a formal reporting.
“These women and gender resource centers are often the place where women feel safe to go, to just talk about the experience and if they are not sure how to process it,” Katz said. “ When you go to the UH Dean of Students website, if you go to the Women and Gender Resource Center, their site no longer exists and instead you find survivor support services. It’s very focused on the Equal Opportunity Services Office becoming more of a legal Title IX response.”
In response to safety concerns, a University spokesperson emphasized the institution’s commitment to safety through prevention education.
“The University is committed to maintaining a safe environment for all employees, students and visitors through multi-layered campus policing, education and by connecting those affected with individualized support,” said a University spokesperson. “We also mandate comprehensive prevention education, such as our Crossroads online training, which covers dating and domestic violence, stalking, consent and reporting options.”
Overcoming the stigma
Despite the increased awareness, gender-based violence remains among the most underreported crimes nationally, particularly among young adults.
Violent crimes often go unreported on college campuses because victims do not believe the incident is serious enough, they fear they will not be taken seriously by authorities or they are unsure if a crime actually occurred.
“Sexual assault often gets deflected around onto the women or onto the survior, saying what were you doing? What were you wearing? What did you have to drink?” Katz said. “The way society views the victim definitely adds on to the pressure.”
While acknowledging the challenges victims face, Katz also emphasized that the increase of reports is a positive. Criticism, she says, should be directed towards the state.
“I think that student-led movements help our campus but also our campus administrators more broadly who are in it for the students create better student experiences,” Katz said. “I would be more critical of the state.”
Isabel Bustos, Lily Huynh, Nina To/The Cougar
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