Dive Brief:
- The nonprofit Sexual Health Innovations has created an online sexual assault reporting system for college campuses called Callisto.
- Students can decide whether to file an official report with their college through the system or simply log the details of their assault and decide later whether to report — either way, the college will get aggregated totals from Callisto, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
- Students who don’t report initially will be offered a matching feature, which requires them to submit their name and their assailants, knowing it will remain unsubmitted unless the assailant becomes a repeat offender, in which case they’ll have another opportunity to consider reporting.
Dive Insight:
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports Callisto has been criticized by those who think the online format is too impersonal and vulnerable to abuse by those with a vendetta. Lawyers, in turn, question whether the system will be able to handle legal variations in reporting processes. As campuses seek to improve their track records with sexual assault, however, a new online tool could be a welcome innovation for students. And if Callisto helps aggregate a truer number of sexual assaults by giving victims a chance to easily log their information without reporting, it will help college administrators better understand the scope of the problem.