Report: 1 in 5 college females report experiencing sexual assault

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Monday, September 21, 2015
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A new study is out, designed to highlight the frequency and characteristics of sexual assault and misconduct on college campuses. It was also done to check how perception of risk and resources available to students.

The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M participated in the report. Below are some of the key findings, per the Association of American Universities. (DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT) You can also find crime stats for any major college campus. Here's how.

  • Overall, 11.7 percent of student respondents across 27 universities reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact by physical force, threats of physical force, or incapacitation since they enrolled at their university.
  • The incidence of sexual assault and sexual misconduct due to physical force, threats of physical force, or incapacitation among female undergraduate student respondents was 23.1 percent, including 10.8 percent who experienced penetration.
  • Overall rates of reporting to campus officials and law enforcement or others were low, ranging from five percent to 28 percent, depending on the specific type of behavior.
  • The most common reason for not reporting incidents of sexual assault and sexual misconduct was that it was not considered serious enough. Other reasons included because they were "embarrassed, ashamed or that it would be too emotionally difficult," and because they "did not think anything would be done about it."
  • More than six in 10 student respondents (63.3 percent) believe that a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct would be taken seriously by campus officials.

School participating in the survey were

Brown University

California Institute of Technology

Case Western Reserve University

Columbia

University

Cornell University

Harvard University

Iowa State University

Michigan State University

The Ohio State University

Purdue University

Texas A&M University

The University of Arizona

University of Florida

University of Michigan

University of

Minnesota, Twin Cities

University of Missouri -- Columbia

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of Oregon

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pittsburgh

University of Southern California

The University of Texas at Austin

University of Virginia

The University of Wisconsin -- Madison

Washington University in St. Louis

Yale University

Dartmouth College, which is not an AAU member, also participated in the survey