Survey finds startling statistics about consent on college campuses
23September

Survey finds startling statistics about consent on college campuses

Written by At The Crossroads, Posted on

Survey finds that sexual assault on campuses is a big problem.

 

A survey of students at 27 universities has uncovered some startling statistics on sexual assaults on campuses across the country. According to the survey, nearly 1 in 4 undergraduate women were the victims of unwanted sexual contact, either by force or because they were unable to consent due to drugs or alcohol. The survey was conducted by the Association of American Universities, and its findings were consistent with similar surveys of college students.

The survey collected responses online from 150,000 graduate and undergraduate students, approximately a 19% response rate from the 779,170 students who were asked to participate in the research.

 

From the responses, researchers saw that the rates of unwanted sexual contact was nearly a quarter, or 1 in 4 women. Some of the statistics varied by institution, with some showing that only 13% of women felt violated, while others were as high as 30%. Some of the schools that participated included Harvard, Yale, Ohio State University, and University of Florida.

Freshmen girls were more likely than their senior peers to be the victims of unsolicited sexual acts, including penetration and sexual touching. Perhaps more disturbing though, was that the survey showed how few students actually report the incidents to authorities. It’s a problem that many campuses are working hard to address. Even the Obama administration has made recent efforts to encourage students to report sexual assault, bringing public attention to the issue.

 

Changing how we think about consent and sex with young adults

While the rates of reporting varied by institution, from a low of 17% to a high of 46%, the most common reason for not reporting it was that the respondent didn’t consider it “serious enough.” A third of those girls also felt “embarrassed, ashamed or [thought] it would be too emotionally difficult.”

 

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