Reports of rape on the Duke University campus more than tripled in 2025, according to the Annual Security Report the university released on Wednesday, reaching the highest level since 2020.
The increase was driven by reports in on-campus dorms and apartment buildings, which rose to six cases from one in 2024. In all, the report recorded 15 sexual assaults, a category the document defines as rape, fondling, incest and statutory rape. Federal law requires the university to publish campus crime statistics each year, and the report covers 14 offenses, from burglary to aggravated assault, along with liquor, drug and weapons violations.
Other categories moved in mixed directions. Reported on-campus stalking fell, and fondling reports dropped after a spike in 2024. Reports of domestic violence on campus rose to 23, still below the high of 26 reached in 2022. Campuses have been required to report rape, stalking, fondling, and domestic and dating violence since 2014, under the Violence Against Women Act.
Duke Police Chief John Dailey said three of the reported sexual assault cases occurred in the Health System, and an arrest was made. The rest were student cases, several of which took place in earlier semesters; two were reported to the Duke police.
“The annual fluctuations are difficult to interpret,” Mr. Dailey wrote in an email to The Chronicle, the student newspaper. Greater education and awareness among students, campus security authorities and other Duke community members about how and where to report, and about the resources available, might influence the numbers, he said.
The report listed one on-campus hazing incident in 2025, though no such incident appeared in Duke’s two most recent Campus Hazing Transparency Reports. Motor vehicle theft rose, with 41 electric scooters and 11 other vehicles — mostly Hyundais and Kias — reported stolen. Administrative referrals for liquor law violations fell to 127 from 197, and drug referrals fell to nine from 12.
The 75-page document also lays out emergency safety plans, reporting policies and statistical methodology. No crimes were reported last year at the Duke University Marine Lab or the Duke in D.C. program.
The report arrived as sexual misconduct on campuses draws national attention, after a much-publicized lawsuit by a woman who alleges she was drugged and gang raped by seven Cornell University fraternity members.
According to the report, Duke conducted 22 information and awareness trainings on sexual misconduct and assault prevention in 2025, with 9,884 attendees; three trainings and three follow-up sessions were aimed at undergraduates. The Office for Institutional Equity lists confidential and non-confidential resources for students, and a student-run group, Duke Sexual Harassment & Assault Prevention & Education, also works on prevention.