WASHINGTON - The Defense Department said Tuesday the nation's military academies had received 65 reports of sexual assault during the 2010-2011 academic year, the most since the Pentagon began maintaining data in 2004.
The academies reported 41 such assaults in the 2009-2010 academic year.
It's unclear whether those figures represent a step in the wrong direction, with assaults actually rising, or a step in the right direction, with more victims willing to report assaults. The Defense Department said it "does not have the ability to conclusively identify the reasons for this increase in reporting behavior."
In a statement, the head of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office said, "Military academies are similar to college campuses around the country in that sexual harassment and assault are challenges that all faculty, staff and students need to work to prevent."
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When assaults do occur, said Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, "we owe it to those who have been victimized, and to every cadet and midshipman, to do everything possible to provide needed support and to hold those who commit sexual assault appropriately accountable."
U.S. military academies have applied considerable resources to raising awareness about sexual harassment, according to Tuesday's report, and a statement from the Defense Department noted that "most academy programs fulfilled, and in some cases surpassed, the requirements of existing DoD policies and directives."
Hertog was named director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office in August.
