The number of gender violence crimes on the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus — including reports of sex assault, domestic violence and stalking — was mostly unchanged in 2014 compared with the year before, according to the university’s latest crime statistics report.

In the university’s annual report required under the federal Clery Act, which governs crime and safety disclosures on college campuses, there were eight reports last year of forcible sex offenses, including rape and attempted rape, three of which occurred in campus residence halls. The same number of complaints was reported in 2013; 11 incidents were reported in 2012.

Meanwhile, reports of domestic violence edged up to four cases from two the year prior, reported stalking incidents dropped to eight from 10 and complaints of dating violence — defined as controlling, abusive and aggressive behavior in a romantic relationship — increased to six from four in 2013.

The numbers likely represent a fraction of actual crimes since data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics suggest that some 80 percent of alleged sexual assaults against female college students go unreported to law enforcement officials.

“Even one reported incident is way too many,” said Dee Uwono, UH-Manoa’s Title IX coordinator. “But it’s our hope that more people will actually feel safe to come and get the help that they need when these things happen to them.”

Under the civil rights law known as Title IX, sexual harassment and sexual violence are prohibited forms of sex discrimination. Schools are required to adopt policies and procedures that ensure a prompt and equitable response to complaints of sexual violence.

The university established Uwono’s stand-alone office this summer as a central site to receive all complaints on the Manoa campus, which educates 18,900 students and employs 7,700 faculty and staff members. It’s one of several steps the system administration has taken to strengthen UH’s response to reports of sex discrimination amid increased scrutiny from federal auditors and state legislators.

Uwono said staff recently were trained and certified as deputy Title IX coordinators to handle complaints that arise among various campus groups, including athletics, student housing, graduate students, the law school and medical school, and employees. With all of the increased awareness and outreach around sexual-violence crimes, officials acknowledge and anticipate the university could see an increase in reported complaints in future years.

“It’s such an underreported phenomenon that if you see a rise in the reported numbers, it’s most likely indicative of greater awareness and greater willingness to report than some crime wave,” said Nick Chagnon, a UH-Manoa doctoral student studying feminist criminology and an at-large representative for the Graduate Student Organization.

Other crime data in the annual report, which covers the 2014 calendar year, show:

>> Motor vehicle thefts, which include mopeds, decreased slightly to 41 reports from 49 in 2013.

>> The number of students referred for judicial action for potential liquor law violations at residence halls increased to 932 from 626 in 2013.

>> The number of students referred for judicial action for potential drug-related violations at residence halls increased to 416 from 344 in 2013.

>> Burglary cases dropped to nine last year from 52 in 2013. There was a single robbery reported last year, compared with two in 2013.

UH officials say it’s not clear what’s behind the spikes in the drug and alcohol incidents. Although these incidents are reported as “violations” in the annual report, the numbers reflect students “documented” and referred for judicial action, said Mike Kaptik, director of UH-Manoa’s Student Housing Services, which provides on-campus accommodations for approximately 3,800 students.

“The way our staff are trained is that they’re required to document all students and incidents related to drugs and alcohol,” he said. “At a time they come across a room, they’re not making a determination of who’s actually drinking or not drinking. They’re stopping the behavior and then they’re documenting who’s present in the room. … We have to go through the judicial process to determine (who’s responsible) and how we’re going to deal with that student.”

Kaptik said of the 932 students documented for potential alcohol violations last year, 412 individual students were ultimately found to be in violation of an alcohol policy. He noted those students represent approximately 11 percent of students living on campus.

Officials say the university provides various educational opportunities to help students make healthy choices concerning alcohol, including presentations at student orientations and through marketing campaigns.

“We’re doing programming from the minute anybody steps on campus,” said Kristen Scholly, chairwoman of the Health Promotion Program under University Health Services Manoa. “We want to give them the education so they know how to make good choices.”

Kaptik added that Student Housing organizes “late-night programming” as alternatives to partying, including movie nights and other activities.

Overall, students and employees say the campus feels safe and that the crime statistics don’t seem alarming.

There’s just not a lot of crime on our campus. And that’s something that the university should be proud of and should highlight,” Chagnon, the graduate student, said. “The flip side of that is that when parents send their students to a university, they want them to be pretty much absolutely safe, and you can’t blame them for that. But in the end, it seems like the students at Manoa are pretty safe, at least on campus.”

Sarah Rice, community programs manager for UH-Manoa’s Department of Public Safety, which publishes the annual report, said the department provides a host of programs to help ensure overall campus safety, among them patrolling officers — there are typically six to 12 on campus at any given time — and a mobile app for cellphones that allows users to quickly report incidents or contact the department.

“It’s inherently a relatively safe campus,” Rice said. “We absolutely have been working really, really hard to make sure that we’re getting out into the community and making people not only aware that we exist but also aware of measures that they can take when we might not be around, measures that they can take to protect themselves and to protect others.”