How safe are Nashville's universities? See how they compare in our campus crime map

This story mentions rape. If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

In 2023, a Belmont University freshman was shot and killed while she was walking at a Nashville park. Jillian Ludwig, 18, was from New Jersey and a music business major. Edgehill Community Memorial Garden is just a nine minute walk from Belmont's campus.

Across the United States, more crime is being reported at colleges and universities. According to USA TODAY, government data shows that the number of crimes reported by college campuses across the country rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

The reported numbers from 2022 include offenses that occurred on and off campus, including on university properties located elsewhere; offenses that occurred on public property adjacent to campuses, and a small number of offenses reported to institutions by local police.

USA TODAY's Crimes on Campus map tool provides information on crimes reported at over 10,000 college and university campuses across the country. The map is compiled using information reported under the Clery Act, a law which requires degree-granting institutions that receive federal funding to compile statistics on campus crimes.

If you can't see the map below, click here.

According to USA TODAY, 38,059 criminal offenses were reported in 2022, an 8% increase from 2019.

"The most prominent change was for auto thefts, which rose by about 120% in 2022 compared to 2019," according to USA TODAY. "Sexual offenses - rape and fondling - represented more than a third of the offenses."

What is the Clery Act?

The Clery Act not only requires colleges and universities to report campus crime data, but to also support victims of violence, and publicly outline the policies and procedures they have put into place to improve campus safety. The law was passed in 1990, after 19-year-old Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered at her residence hall at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn.

According to the Clery Center, institutions must provide a public annual security report (ASR) to employees and students every Oct. 1. The report must include statistics of campus crime for the preceding 3 calendar years and details about efforts taken to improve campus safety.

Institutions must include four distinct categories of crime in their reports. These include: criminal offenses, hate crimes, VAWA (Violence against women act) offenses, and arrests and referrals for disciplinary action.

What crimes are reported at Belmont University?

In 2022, Belmont University had a total student population of 8,910. There were a total of five crimes reported at Belmont in 2022 including one case of rape, one case of fondling, two cases of burglary and one case of motor vehicle theft.

Crimes at Belmont decreased drastically from 2021, where there were a total of 14 crimes reported. Dating back to 2014, the most number of crimes to be reported in a single year at Belmont was in 2017, when 34 crimes were reported. Twenty-nine of those crimes were for rape, two were for aggravated assault, two for motor vehicle theft, and one was for fondling.

What crimes are reported at Vanderbilt University?

A total of 90 crimes were reported at Vanderbilt University in 2022. Vanderbilt had a student population of 13,710 in 2022. Like Belmont, the majority of crimes reported at Vanderbilt were for sexual assault. Twenty-seven of the crimes reported in 2022 were for rape, 31 were for fondling, one was for robbery, one was for arson, 13 were for aggravated assault, six were for burglary, and eleven were for motor vehicle theft.

The university reported its most number of crimes in 2021, with 105 total.

What crimes are reported at Lipscomb University?

The number of crimes reported at Lipscomb University were much lower than those reported at Vanderbilt or Belmont. However, it is important to note that Lipscomb has a lower student population. In 2022, Lipscomb had a student population of 4,704.

In 2022 Lipscomb reported a total of eight crimes including five for fondling, one for rape, one for aggravated assault, and one for burglary. Lipscomb reported its most crimes in 2016, when there were a total of nine crimes reported.

To view crimes reported at other Nashville or national colleges and universities, visit data.tennessean.com.

USA TODAY contributed to this report.

Diana Leyva covers trending news and service for The Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter at @_leyvadiana

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How safe are Nashville colleges and universities? See campus crime map