One in four female undergraduates reports sexual misconduct, survey finds - LA Times
More than 1 in 4 female undergraduate students say they have been victimized by nonconsensual sexual contact, according to a survey released Monday of 27 universities across the country.
In California, for instance, 29.7% of female undergraduates at USC and 12.7% at Caltech reported the most serious sexual misconduct — sexual penetration or touching involving force or incapacitation by alcohol or drugs.
“The purpose of this survey is to enhance the safety of students on our campuses,” Hunter Rawlings, the association’s president, said in a teleconference Monday.
Many universities have moved to improve their response to campus sexual misconduct since the federal government began cracking down in 2011 with a record number of policy directives, fines and more than 100 investigations. Rawlings said the survey data can also be used to assist policymakers in crafting additional responses.
Participants in the survey, conducted by research firm Westat, also included students at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Columbia and Purdue universities; Dartmouth College and the University of Arizona.
The survey asked students whether the nonconsensual sexual contact occurred by force, incapacitation, nonphysical coercion or the absence of “affirmative consent,” an emerging standard that requires both partners to explicitly agree to the encounter. Physical force was the most prevalent tactic and coercion the least.
One possible flaw in the survey is that its response rate of 19.3% was relatively low, which could result in a slight upward bias. Victims could be more likely to respond to the survey than non-victims.
For example, students at USC had a response rate of 19.4% and the results showed a higher rate of reported sexual misconduct than at Caltech, where 47.1% of students responded to the survey.
Female undergraduates at USC voiced less confidence in university procedures to handle complaints than did males on campus and female grad students.
“Our conviction is that one sexual assault in our community is one too many,” said a letter issued Monday to the campus community by Provost Michael Quick and Ainsley Carry, vice president for student affairs.
Rates of assault were highest among students who identified as transgender, genderqueer (a term the survey uses but does not define), nonconforming, questioning or a category not listed on the survey.
Six out of 10 female undergraduates said they had been sexually harassed, a category separate from sexual contact. Gays and lesbians reported harassment rates of 60.4%, compared with 45.9% of heterosexuals.
Most students did nothing while witnessing a drunk person headed for what they thought would be a sexual encounter or cases of sexual violence or harassment.
Gentrification foes worry that Eastside housing group is displacing Boyle Heights residents
8:35 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional information.
12:26 p.m.: This story has been updated to include results from USC and Caltech and a comment from the university association's president.
This article was first published at 7 a.m.
One in four female undergraduates reports sexual misconduct, survey finds - LA Times
More than 1 in 4 female undergraduate students say they have been victimized by nonconsensual sexual contact, according to a survey released Monday of 27 universities across the country.
In California, for instance, 29.7% of female undergraduates at USC and 12.7% at Caltech reported the most serious sexual misconduct — sexual penetration or touching involving force or incapacitation by alcohol or drugs.
“The purpose of this survey is to enhance the safety of students on our campuses,” Hunter Rawlings, the association’s president, said in a teleconference Monday.
Many universities have moved to improve their response to campus sexual misconduct since the federal government began cracking down in 2011 with a record number of policy directives, fines and more than 100 investigations. Rawlings said the survey data can also be used to assist policymakers in crafting additional responses.
Participants in the survey, conducted by research firm Westat, also included students at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Columbia and Purdue universities; Dartmouth College and the University of Arizona.
The survey asked students whether the nonconsensual sexual contact occurred by force, incapacitation, nonphysical coercion or the absence of “affirmative consent,” an emerging standard that requires both partners to explicitly agree to the encounter. Physical force was the most prevalent tactic and coercion the least.
One possible flaw in the survey is that its response rate of 19.3% was relative
ly low, which could result in a slight upward bias. Victims could be more likely to respond to the survey than non-victims.
For example, students at USC had a response rate of 19.4% and the results showed a higher rate of reported sexual misconduct than at Caltech, where 47.1% of students responded to the survey.
Female undergraduates at USC voiced less confidence in university procedures to handle complaints than did males on campus and female grad students.
“Our conviction is that one sexual assault in our community is one too many,” said a letter issued Monday to the campus community by Provost Michael Quick and Ainsley Carry, vice president for student affairs.
Rates of assault were highest among students who identified as transgender, genderqueer (a term the survey uses but does not define), nonconforming, questioning or a category not listed on the survey.
Six out of 10 female undergraduates said they had been sexually harassed, a category separate from sexual contact. Gays and lesbians reported harassment rates of 60.4%, compared with 45.9% of heterosexuals.
Most students did nothing while witnessing a drunk person headed for what they thought would be a sexual encounter or cases of sexual violence or harassment.
Gentrification foes worry that Eastside housing group is displacing Boyle Heights residents
8:35 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional information.
12:26 p.m.: This story has been updated to include results from USC and Caltech and a comment from the university association's president.
This article was first published at 7 a.m.