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The FBI listed 286 crimes on college campuses in 2001, the most recent year for which data are available. The U.S. Department of Education, which also mandates hate-crime reporting, counted 487 campus hate crimes in 2001.

Both numbers are low.

Many victims don't report hate crimes because of fears of reprisals and a belief that nothing will be done.

Some college administrators and campus police departments likewise fail to identify, report and investigate such crimes.

Twenty states, including New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, Mississippi and Louisiana, listed no hate crimes on any college campuses. But Rhode Island, the smallest state, listed 15 — all on one campus. How to explain that discrepancy?

The Chronicle of Higher Education explained it this way: "Many institutions (failed) to include required categories, added extra ones, used (incorrect) crime-classification categories, or arranged the information in a confusing way."

More ominously, The Chronicle added: "Some experts also wonder whether some institutions are trying to obscure their crime statistics."

No college wants a reputation as a haven for hate crimes. Denial is rampant.

How much higher, then, are the actual numbers?

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