Nathan, you concede that rape statistics are often exaggerated for political purposes, say the debate shouldn’t be about statistics . . . and then proceed to bolster your case with an unreliable statistic.
As I explained in 2011 when the study you cite was released, its numbers are way out of whack with the estimates of superior studies, even if you exclude the “alcohol facilitated” rapes (a gray area that often includes consensual drunken sex in addition to the type of assaults on unconscious women you describe). Jacob Sullum pointed out other problems as well. And let’s not forget that college-age women seem to be safer from rape when they go to college than when they don’t.
Rape isn’t an “epidemic” on college campuses; it’s part of the human condition everywhere. It deserves serious punishment — and also serious statistics.