When prospective students take the official tour of the UC Davis campus, a guide points out two large sculptures. The sculptures are the final stop on a tour during which visitors are regaled with detailed descriptions of campus art, and glowing accounts of academic programs and housing alternatives. But they learn little about campus crime.
Bike theft is the biggest headache for students, the guide offers.
Prospective students are told to buy a good bicycle lock. In the highly competitive admissions race, UC Davis uses its safe, friendly, small-town image as a key selling point not only on walking tours, but also in brochures and on the university Web site. But a Bee investigation found that the university had consistently underreported sexual assaults, among the most common crimes on campus. Recently publicized statistics showed only one rape on campus since 1995. UC Davis police and administrators defended their reporting practice, but at the same time they conceded students and parents have not been provided with adequate safety information.