By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-03 17:18:27 | Updated at 2026-10-03 18:10:17
55 minutes ago
See more of our coverage in your search results.
A staggering 8,227 rapes were reported at American colleges and universities in 2024 — and elite New York schools such as Columbia, Cornell and NYU were far from immune from the plague of sexual violence, a Post review of federal and state crime data found.
Nationally, the University of Utah had the most reported rapes — nearly double the number logged at the next-highest schools.
The 36,894-student public university in Salt Lake City recorded a shocking 146 rape accusations in 2024, according to data from the US Department of Education.
Most of the alleged attacks, 122, took place in dorms, while another 18 reportedly happened in other campus buildings, and six occurred in off-campus property run by the school or a student organization.
The University of Colorado Boulder had the second highest count, with 96 rapes reported in 2024, followed by Ohio State University, with 67.
The other schools that made the national top 10 in 2024 were Penn State University, with 57 reported rape cases; UCLA with 52 cases; the University of California Santa Cruz, 46; the University of California Santa Barbara, 43; Indiana University, 43; University of Kansas, 39 and University of Kentucky, 37.
In New York, Columbia University stood out with 262 reported incidents of sexual violence in 2024.
While federal data tracks rape, New York’s state reporting rules require colleges to report more broadly — sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking in a combined tally.
The Big Apple Ivy logged 21 reported rapes on campus, all of which were reported in residence halls.
Not only did Columbia have the highest number of sexual violence incidents reported, it also had the worst record out of the large New York schools when it came to investigating and taking disciplinary action, a Post analysis found.
Of the 262 incidents reported to the school’s Title IX coordinator in 2024, only three were investigated. Of those, only a single case resulted in the accused student being expelled.
It wasn’t just a one-year blip — over the full period since this data has been collected and made available, from 2018 to 2024, Columbia consistently had the worst record of the Empire State colleges.
Over those seven years, an average of 9% of the 1,202 total reported cases were investigated, and just 1% — 17 cases — resulted in disciplinary action.
Columbia student Emma Sulkowicz famously carried the mattress she said she was sexually assaulted on around campus for months to protest the university’s lack of action against her accused rapist — even bringing it on the stage as she graduated in 2015.
Paul Nungesser, her classmate, was accused of raping her during sophomore year in 2012 – but he was cleared after a university investigation.
NYU reported 229 cases of sexual violence in 2024. Of these, 28 were investigated, and 10 resulted in disciplinary action.
SUNY Albany followed with 217 cases and SUNY Binghamton 198.
Cornell University, which is at the center of a drug-fueled gang rape scandal, had 166 cases of sexual violence reported in 2024 — the year the alleged incident occurred at the Chi Phi frat house in October.
That year, 18 of the cases were investigated and disciplinary action was taken in 11 cases, which included three expulsions and four suspensions, according to the data.
Two of the Chi Phi guys accused in the gang rape case were expelled, and two others were suspended for a year, the university’s president has said.
The university faced backlash after an alleged victim’s lawsuit argued that some of the accused rapists were allowed to return to campus after submitting essays about the alleged assault.
Reported sex offenses on college campuses skyrocketed over the past decade, rising nearly fivefold, even as research suggests a small minority, between 2% to 10% of sexual assault reports are false — such as the infamous Duke University lacrosse case.
“The number should be taken seriously, while being understood for what it is: a count of reports, not the full picture,” psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, author of Therapy Nation, told The Post.
“Reports aren’t convictions, and the figure can’t possibly tell us how many assaults went unreported,” he added.”
On campus, reporting can mean risking a whole social circle if the accused is a classmate, friend or member of the same group.
Additional reporting by Sonya Gugliara
