The 2025 Security and Fire Safety Report for Ohio University was released Sept. 30. The annual report provides information on campus security measures, personal safety and fire safety across all OU campuses.
The report includes data from the past three years and covers the Athens campus as well as OU’s regional campuses.
“These crime statistics also include reported crimes that occurred in off-campus buildings owned or controlled by Ohio University and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, its campus,” Dan Pittman, a university spokesperson, said in an email.
Pittman said the data is gathered from multiple sources, including Ohio University Police Department, local police and university offices that handle student conduct and civil rights.
The Security and Fire Safety report is published in accordance with the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, commonly known as the Clery Act. The law requires all higher education institutions to report information on campus crime and personal safety annually.
Under the Clery Act, universities must include specific information in their annual reports. That includes data on criminal offenses, hate crimes, hazing, Violence Against Women Act offenses and arrests or referrals for disciplinary action, according to the Clery Center website.
The report includes information on where to shelter in place during emergencies, contact information for local and campus law enforcement agencies and instructions on how to receive emergency alerts. It also provides resources on how to respond to and protect oneself during an attack, information about drug and alcohol use among students, guidance on theft prevention and steps to report sexual misconduct.
In 2024, OU reported a total of 20 rapes on the Athens campus, an increase from 10 in 2023 and 18 in 2022. Of those cases, 19 occurred in on-campus residential facilities, according to the report.
OU’s 2025 report also showed 18 incidents of dating violence in 2024, up from 15 in 2023 and eight in 2022, while stalking increased to 13 cases from 11 the year prior. Burglary reports doubled from five in 2023 to 10 in 2024.
The Security and Fire Safety report is not unique to OU. Under the Clery Act, all institutions of higher education are required to publish similar reports each year.
Other Ohio universities, including Kent State University, the University of Akron and Bowling Green State University, have also released their 2025 reports. Like OU, their reports include information about on and off-campus emergency response organizations.
OU and BGSU both note in their reports they host events such as Take Back the Night and training sessions for resident assistants and mandatory reporters.
Each university’s report includes statistics on rape, hate crimes and arson occurring on campus. OU, Kent State and Akron reported no hate crimes for 2022, 2023 or 2024. BGSU reported no hate crimes in 2024 but recorded one on-campus hate crime in both 2022 and 2023.
Kent State reported no cases of arson from 2022 through 2024. OU recorded one case in 2022, two in 2023 and one in 2024. BGSU and Akron each reported one case of arson in 2022 and none in 2023 and 2024.
Kent State also reported no rapes during that period. In 2024, Akron reported six and BGSU reported seven.
Each report also contains fire incident data from 2022 to 2024. Kent State’s report did not specify the number of campus fires but noted “fire alarm testing exercises are conducted annually.”
At BGSU, two small residence hall fires in 2023 were caused by burning sage. That same year, Akron reported three microwave-related fires in the Exchange Residence Hall.
Ohio University reported two unintentional residence hall fires in 2022, two in 2023 and one arson-related fire in 2024. The 2024 incident occurred in Jefferson Hall and caused less than $100 in property damage. No injuries were reported in any of the fires from 2022 to 2024.
The full 2025 report is available online through the university’s website.
