15 Percent Of Respondents To UT-Austin Survey Report Having Been Raped

AUSTIN, TX — Fifteen percent of undergraduate women at the University of Texas at Austin have reported having been raped, according to the results of a report on sexual assault released Thursday.

Titled "Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments," the report was sent to the UT-Austin community via email. The report examined the culture not only at UT-Austin, but the 13 institutions comprising the University of Texas system, officials said in the report.

"The successful launch and timely completion of the Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments (CLASE) Survey at The University of Texas at Austin is due in large part to the collective effort and dedication of many individuals," an introduction to the findings reads. "The CLASE survey is part of the larger empirical CLASE study of prevalence and perpetration of five forms of violence and misconduct including sexual harassment by faculty/staff, sexual harassment by students, stalking, dating/domestic abuse and violence, and unwanted sexual contact across 13 institutions in The University of Texas System."

Findings are broken down by categories:

Stalking

• Twenty-two percent of female undergraduate students and 16% of students reported having experienced stalking since their enrollment.

Dating/domestic abuse and violence

• Eight percent of students who had been in a dating or marital relationship while at UT Austin reported having experienced psychological abuse.

• Ten percent of students who had been in a dating or marital relationship while at UT Austin reported having experienced physical violence.

Unwanted sexual contact

• Eighteen percent of students experienced unwanted sexual touching.

• Fifteen percent of undergraduate females experienced rape since their enrollment.

Despite the transparency of its findings, university officials made a point to note the study's shortcomings.

"The study had several limitations," officials wrote. "Voluntary surveys may have the potential to reflect response bias because some participants may have answered survey questions either inaccurately or untruthfully due to a misunderstanding or to be socially desirable."

Moreover, officials noted, "...some may assume that students with the experience of victimization are more drawn to this type of study."

University officials utilized three strategies to ameliorate bias or "overestimation" in responses, they wrote: "Three strategies were used to minimize overestimation of victimization .First, the study was not advertised as a study about victimization. Second, weighting strategies were used so that the findings were reflective of the student population by gender, race/ethnicity,and school classification at the institution. Third, margins of error were also calculated to reflect relative confidence in the findings."

A explanatory note also shed light on the use of percentages in the study's findings, explaining they refer to respondents rather than prominently presented in context to university enrollment as a whole. Those interested in studying the methodology used are directed to the "Research Methods Report" section on the project's website located at www.utsystem.edu/CLASE.

"Research reports that present findings as percentages often include the overall number of participants to provide more context for the reader," university officials wrote. "For example, '18% of students experience sexual assault' might be more useful if the overall number of students atthe institution is also included when reporting the percentage."

Officials explain the decision to present findings as percentages: "In the infographic reports, several factors led to the decision to be parsimonious so that they contain only percentages. The overall population of students and number of survey participantsare known and reported in the report’s demographics section."

Research reports that present findings as percentag-es often include the overall number of participantsto provide more context for the reader. For example,“18% of students experience sexual assault” mightbe more useful if the overall number of students atthe institution is also included when reporting thepercentage. In the infographic reports, several fac-tors led to the decision to be parsimonious so thatthey contain only percentages. The overall popula-tion of students and number of survey participantsare known and reported in the report’s demograph-ics section. Also, the number of participants for eachquestion and all other relevant data are providedto any interested reader in the “Research MethodsReport” and available on the project website: www.utsystem.edu/CLASE.

The survey was web-based, according to the report. In a summary, alcohol consumption figures prominently in instances of unwanted sexual contact. University officials also noted in the summary that the lion's share of physical violence occurred off campus:

• Sixty-nine percent of unwanted sexual contact victims and 84% of unwanted sexual contact perpetrators used alcohol or drugs at the time of victimization.

• Most instances of dating/domestic abuse and violence and unwanted sexual contact occurred off-campus. For example, 90% of physical violence incidents occurred off-campus.

• Fifty-one percent of physical violence perpetrators and fifty-four percent of unwanted sexual contact perpetrators were identified as students at UT Austin.

The university offers an array of programs and services to ameliorate the scourge of sexual abuse, officials noted.

"UT Austin offers several programs and services with the goals of reducing violence and ensuring students’ mental and physical safety," the report reads. "For example, UT Austin’s Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) houses two additional comprehensive pro-grams outside of the traditional counseling center. One is the Voices Against Violence (VAV) program that addresses interpersonal violence through prevention, awareness, and response. The second isthe Counselors in Academic Residence (CARE) pro-gram that situates counselors in academic colleges and schools across campus, increasing proximity and utilization."

Still, the findings have yielded the need for immediate actions to take place. Among these are:

• Enhance sexual violence prevention to addresshigher rates of victimization among undergraduate

women;

• Implement strategic education plans for teaching assistants, assistant instructors, and graduate assistants.

• Develop a collaborative, robust, and comprehensive faculty and staff education plan with a specific focus on sexual misconduct and harassment policies;

• Hire a peer advocacy coordinator, to be housed within Student Emergency Services, to develop and implement a survivor peer advocacy program to in-crease access to information, options, and non-man-datory reporting spaces outside of CMHC;

• Develop and implement a collaborative Title IX awareness campaign;

• Expand Be Vocal to include a full-time staff member focused on bystander intervention strategies for students, faculty, and staff;

• Develop and implement survivor peer advocacy pro-gram to increase access to information, options, andnon-mandatory reporting spaces outside of CMHC;

• Expand non-mandatory reporting to include stu-dent, faculty, and staff ombuds.

Future steps being mulled in light of the report's findings include, according to the report:

• Identifying non-mandatory reporting advocates forsurvivors and accused individuals.

• Explore establishing a faculty liaison within each academic unit that can serve as a Title IX deputy and resource for colleagues and students;

• Explore establishing a centralized location for reporting and resources/information, such as a hotline similar to Behavioral Concerns Advice Line (BCAL);

• Explore mandatory implementation of Haven Plusfor graduate students;

The report comes two weeks to the day last year when freshman dance major Haruka Weiser was murdered after being sexually abused as she walked along a darkened path fronting a portion of Waller creek running through campus. That tragedy prompted university officials to implement a number of safety measures in a security audit commissioned from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

To read the full report, click here.

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