A year after students and faculty rallied for tighter security on the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus, officials say there have been no reports of sexual assaults so far this year.

The announcement by UH-Manoa came in the midst of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and suggests an improvement over last year, when two on-campus and four off-campus assaults raised concerns about student safety.

But some students feel that not much has changed.

Jean Liu, 24, said that during the day she normally feels safe, but at night and on weekends it is a different story.

"Sometimes I come here on the weekends to study in the library and there are few security around and it feels a little uncomfortable," Liu said. She said there are several pathways on campus that are not well lit at night and that security guards are not always nearby.

Following last year's assaults, President David McClain last August declared all UH campuses rape-free zones and dedicated more than $2 million systemwide for new security measures.

Since then, shrubs around dark areas on the Manoa campus have been cut to enhance visibility and burned-out bulbs in lighting fixtures across campus have been replaced, said Kathy Cutshaw, vice chancellor for administration, finance and operations.

"We have done the things we can do within a reasonable budget and the big projects have to go through the bidding process, which takes us longer," she said.

There is also a project to upgrade or replace light fixtures on campus, which will likely go out to bid in August, Cutshaw said. Another project will improve lighting at the main entrances to the campus on Dole Street and University Avenue. Those projects, once they begin, should be completed in less than six months, she said.

There is also a request pending at the Legislature to fund eight new security guard positions come next fall, Cutshaw said.

Jayne Bopp, project coordinator for the Program Against Violence to Women, said the university has made improvements in the way it responds to sexual assault. She heads a task force that was established in 2003 to improve victim assistance services and perpetrator accountability.

In addition to a systemwide sex assault policy implemented in January, Bopp said, Manoa has improved safety on campus in a number of ways — through crime alerts, trespass bans, new on-campus investigation procedures and aggressively pursuing code-of-conduct violations.

"I think in the three years I have been here, I have seen some really great, positive changes," Bopp said.

Last August, McClain committed 5 percent of all new money — about $1.4 million for UH-Manoa — for added security measures over two years.

But Kathryn Xian, a co-founder of the Rape Free Zone Coalition, said she has seen little change on the Manoa campus since then.

"There was a lot of money spent on lights and security and that's all fine," Xian said. "But we're frustrated because we see there are a lot of problems being ignored."

Xian's group would like to see the university concentrate on educating its personnel on how to deal with assaults and properly report them to police and other authorities.

Some women's advocates also suggest assault incidents may be under-reported.

"For a campus this size, our reporting rate for sexual harassment and sexual assault over the last few years has been significantly lower than one would expect, just based on sheer numbers," said Susan Hippensteele, director of women's studies at UH-Manoa and a member of the Rape Free Zone Coalition.

University officials acknowledged that the vast majority of assault victims never come forward.

"Because there are no reports doesn't necessarily mean there have been no sex assaults," said Beverly McCreary, gender equity counselor at UH-Manoa.

However, McCreary said university personnel diligently report and handle any incident of sexual assault.

"I've heard the allegations — that we don't attend to sex assaults that have been reported to us — but that's not my experience," McCreary said.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.