Recent reports of UW-Madison having the highest number of sexual assaults in the Big Ten may be misleading.

Nancy Lynch of the university’s legal office said the number of sexual assaults has not gone up noticeably, but the criteria for reporting assaults was re-evaluated, showing UW had a misunderstanding of what was expected in the federal reports.

“There’s been no wrongdoing,” Lynch said. “It’s been a misunderstanding.”

The revised report from 2000 shows a total of 19 reported sexual assaults on campus; 18 assaults were reported at the University of Minnesota and Michigan State University.

Bigger universities are more likely to have a higher number of assaults based on a greater student body and a larger campus area where reports are made, Lynch said, specifying UW’s large population as important in interpreting the data.

Previously, officials thought they only had to include reports made to campus police, instead of reports made to any campus official. When initially reporting only the police reports, UW came up last in the Big Ten for sexual assaults. The administration faced questions and reflected on its recording process.

To more accurately inform students of campus safety, the university sent all students a notice of the correction via e-mail.

The e-mail clarified the details of UW’s campus safety homepage and encouraged students to check out the website.

Lynch said the university takes full responsibility for the mistake and hopes students take advantage of campus safety resources.

Despite claims the report was simply clerical, some students think the high sexual assault numbers should be more closely scrutinized.

Angela Bartucci, founder of Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, said she hopes UW students realize the necessary safety precautions they must take.

A sexual assault survivor herself, Bartucci cautioned students to “look out for each other.”

“Know your sexual boundaries,” she said. “Be aware of your surroundings and use the buddy system.”

While some fear the statistics will harm UW’s reputation, both Bartucci and Lynch said they feel the revised statistics should be viewed as an asset to students. They pointed out it is difficult to tell whether the reported numbers accurately reflect the true number of assaults, and the report might help students feel comfortable reporting assaults.

“Every time we see an increase in sexual assault numbers it could be that there are more assaults, or it could be that more people are coming forward,” Lynch said.

In fact, the new number is most likely only a fraction of the sexual assaults that occur on campus, Bartucci said.

“It’s scary to think that there are so many more [assaults] that we don’t know about,” she said. “We have no idea what the actual number is.”

Bartucci said nine out of ten female rape victims do not report the rape. Lynch said she hopes the report can help fix this problem.

“These statistics ? do no good if people don’t come forward,” she said.