Harvard president calls results of an unprecedented sexual assault survey 'deeply disturbing'
The Association of American Universities released the results of one of the largest ever surveys of sexual assault on college campuses Monday, and the results at Harvard were particularly dismaying.
"Thirty-one percent of senior undergraduate females at Harvard College who responded to a sexual conduct climate survey last spring said they had experienced some form of 'nonconsensual sexual contact' during their time at the College," The Harvard Crimson wrote on Monday.
Harvard University President Drew G. Faust Harvard president called results of the survey "deeply disturbing" in an email to students and faculty, according to The Crimson.
The findings at Harvard came after the US Department of Education found Harvard Law School in violation of sexual harassment policies. Harvard Law agreed to improve policies and procedures on campus in December.
In response to the updated policies, 28 members of Harvard Law School faculty objected to the changes, calling them an overreaction that would do more harm than good for Harvard students.
The professors' main concern was that the updated policies impinged on the due process rights of students accused of wrongdoing.
The survey was one of the largest ever conducted on the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses.
Twenty-seven universities participated, with more than 150,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students answering survey questions on incidents of sexual misconduct and the perceptions of these instances on campus.
Prior to the AAU study, many public figures pointed to the statistic that one in five women were the victim of sexual assault, a number that came from a 2007 study conducted for the National Institute of Justice.
The AAU study is more comprehensive and offers additional nuance into the conversation about how college campuses address sexual assault. The findings, though fairly consistent with previous understanding of the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, were nonetheless disturbing.
"Overall, 11.7% of student respondents across 27 universities reported experiencing non-consensual sexual contact by physical force, threats of physical force, or incapacitation since they enrolled at their university," the study found.
The AAU also noted that there was wide variation in sexual assault percentages across the campuses.
Those percentages are not available on the AAU's website, as each individual college has the ability to decide if it will publicly release its data. Some colleges have already released findings on their websites.
"13 percent of students reported having experienced attempted or completed nonconsensual sexual contact by incapacitation or physical force since entering the institution," The Dartmouth reported on Monday.
The findings, though they may be uncomfortable to confront at certain schools, are an important step in countering sexual assaults on campus.
"We hope the data our universities have collected in this survey will help guide their policies and practices as they work to address and prevent sexual assault and sexual misconduct on campus, and to ensure that reports of sexual assault and sexual misconduct are handled with care, compassion, and a commitment to fair, prompt, and impartial review and resolution," Hunter Rawlings, president of AAU, said.