Sexual assault survey results jolt Stanford
Nearly 40% of undergraduate women at Stanford University say they’ve been forced into unwanted sex or sexual touching by their senior year — and an alarming new national survey of 33 university campuses shows that high rates of sexual assault are not unusual.
“The disturbing news from this year’s survey is that sexual assault and misconduct remain far too prevalent among students at all levels of study,” Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Association of American Universities, which conducted the survey, said Tuesday in a statement.
Nationally — across an array of public campuses, MIT and the Ivy League’s Harvard, Yale, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania — the overall rate of nonconsensual sexual contact for women undergraduates since entering college was 26%.
Overall, nearly 182,000 students responded, including about 3,000 transgender and nonbinary students, making it the largest survey of its kind, according to the group.
The report, which asserts a 95% confidence level in the accuracy of its findings, did not publish the breakdown of results by university. But the group gave each participating university its own report.
Stanford is the only Bay Area university that joined in the survey, and its results appear higher than the national average — prompting the university to call a campuswide meeting Wednesday to discuss the findings and to bring in outside experts to look at how Stanford responds to sexual violence and harassment. The university has been criticized in the past by students and faculty alike.
“I am deeply troubled by many of the survey findings, as I’m sure you will be,” Stanford’s provost, Persis Drell, wrote in an open letter to students and employees. “We continue to see the prevalence of sexual assault and sexual harassment on our campus, and there is clear evidence that some groups of students are particularly affected at higher rates than others.”
In particular, Drell said, the campus needs to develop “a deeper understanding of gender identity, gender expression and how we can all engage in genderinclusive practices.”
At Stanford, more than 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students filled out the questionnaire this year, revealing several troubling trends. Among them:
⏩ Undergraduates on campus for at least four years who experienced nonconsensual sexual contact by force, inability to consent, coercion (the threat of nonphysical harm — such as bad grades — or promising rewards) or without voluntary agreement: women (38.5%) men (13.8%).
⏩ Those who experienced nonconsensual sexual contact by force or inability to consent: Undergraduate women (23.8%). Transgender and nonbinary students at undergrad and graduate levels (21.7%).
1⏩ About half of all nonconsensual sexual contact occurred in Stanford residence halls and dorms.
⏩ About 80% of perpetrators were Stanford students.
⏩ Nearly half of the women, and 40% of men, who experienced nonconsensual sexual contact had “adverse academic consequences” because of it.
The survey also found that students who have been attacked generally have little faith that the university will help them by investigating and dealing with the perpetrator.
“Despite many efforts at Stanford over the years (to address the problem), it is evident that much more needs to be done,” Drell wrote in her open letter to the Stanford community.
Drell said the campus will analyze the survey results more deeply and look at what other universities are doing to see what Stanford needs to do differently. She said Stanford will share the results of this effort in the winter.
The provost also said the campus needs to do more to support transgender and gender nonconforming students because of the high rate of sexual assault and harassment they experience. As a starting point, she said, a transgender support website will be ready this fall.