Findings of sexual assault survey
These are among the findings of a survey of 22,000 students at public and private colleges and universities across Ohio about campus sexual assault.
Percent of students who reported knowing a woman assaulted on-campus
Public college or university: 13.47 percent
Private college or university: 13.01 percent
Percent of students who reported knowing a woman assaulted off-campus
Public college or university: 15.33 percent
Private college or university: 9.85 percent
Percent of students who reported knowing a man assaulted on-campus
Public college or university: 2.14 percent
Private college or university: 2.92 percent
Percent of students who reported knowing a man assaulted off-campus
Public college or university: 2.82 percent
Private college or university: 2.88 percent
I-Team exclusive
Our I-Team has been leading the way on coverage of this issue. Go to MyDaytonDailyNews.com for our in-depth investigation of barriers that prevent the reporting and conviction of campus sexual assault.
More than 18 percent of Ohio public college students — and 11 percent at private schools — witnessed a situation last school year that they thought was, or could have led to, a sexual assault.
One-in-five public college students had a friend say they were raped, sexually harassed or stalked during this past school year. More than 17 percent at private schools fell into this category.
These are among the findings released Thursday of a first-of-its-kind survey of more than 22,000 college students at every Ohio public college and university and 80 percent of all schools, public and private, across the state.
“As I have shared many times before, numbers don’t lie, and in the case of sexual violence on our campuses in Ohio, the numbers tell a story that needs a better ending,” said University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College President Michelle Johnston, a leader in the initiative.
“Using this data, we will thoroughly analyze where we are now and will chart a course for where we want to be, in relation to positive and safe environments on our campuses.”
The survey numbers align with previous studies finding that sexual assaults are far more common than what is reported to authorities. An I-Team investigation published last month found that sexual assaults are rarely reported to police. And when they are reported, they often don't lead to a criminal investigation, rarely lead to an arrest and almost never result in a conviction.
The statewide survey was funded through the state's $2 million Changing Campus Culture initiative led by the Ohio Department of Higher Education, which is working with schools to implement programs to address the issue.
Department of Higher Education spokesman Jeff Robinson said Ohio is one of the only states to study the issue on this level.
“The results we saw from those benchmark questions are trending with the national numbers,” Robinson said. “They are providing a a snapshot of what we’re seeing on our campuses to give them some tools to use as they plan their future programming.”
While every area public college and university participated in the study, not every private school did. University of Dayton and Wittenberg University took part. Cedarville University did not, according to state records. A breakdown of survey results by school was requested by this newspaper Thursday, but was not available by press time.
Wittenberg announced Thursday that the survey found students at the university were more knowledgeable about campus resources and were more involved in sexual assault prevention.
“These are excellent data points that we can use in our evidence-based planning and response efforts at Wittenberg,” said Casey Gill, Wittenberg dean of students.
Michelle Issadore, assistant executive director of prevention and advocacy at the Association of Title IX Administrators, reviewed the numbers and said she was impressed by the number of students at Ohio’s 2-year colleges — an often hard-t0-reach population — who expressed awareness about school resources and support by their school.
Across the state, students at public and private campuses felt it was “moderately likely” their school would take a sexual assault report seriously and would take corrective action against the offender. Students saw sexual assault as a problem they have a role in addressing, but most didn’t know where to go for help.
“I think there is space there to create opportunies for students to have more frequent training, more diverse programing, more ways to become educated and become involved in finding ways to prevent sexual assault on campus,” Issadore said.
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