Students,
women in particular, are routinely exposed to high risks of sexual
victimization on campus--most often at the hands of fellow classmates (Fisher,
Cullen & Turner, 2000; Koss, Gidycz & Wisniewski, 1987). While reports of mishandling of sexual
assault (SA) cases by administrators are widely publicized by media,
underreporting by victims of acquaintance SA remains, however, one of the most
significant factors in low reporting rates on institutions of higher education
(IHE) campuses. Mandated under
Public Law 105-244, this research offers the first comprehensive national-level
investigation of how the country's IHE are responding to reports of SA when
made by students on their campuses.
Specifically, issues relating to prevention efforts, victim support
services, reporting policies, protocols, practices, barriers, and facilitators,
formal and informal adjudication procedures, and sanctions for SA that
currently exist in the nation's IHEs were examined.
The
research design was triangulated and multiple forms of data were used to
address each of nine mandated issues:
content analysis of published SA policy materials and a mail survey of
campus administrators, field research at promising practice schools and
electronic focus groups, and legal research of state-level legislation. The national research sample (n=2,438)
was drawn from all Title-IV funding-eligible school types, and included all
Historically Black Colleges (N=98) and Universities and all Tribal Colleges and
Universities (N=28). Response
rates varied by data- and school-type (e.g., 88 percent for content analysis
among four-year public schools), with an overall response rate of 41
percent. For four-year public and
four-year private nonprofit schools, the policy material and survey components
generated a 65.9 percent and a 49.1 percent response rate respectively.
The
Final Report presents research findings by issue, broken down into school type,
and discusses strengths, weaknesses, and basic and promising practices with
regard to SA response on campuses.
The results from this study suggest that the majority of IHEs need
examples of model programs in order to develop comprehensive SA prevention and
response policies. This would
include standard institutional and state definitions of SA and rape; procedures
for victim decision-making during the reporting and adjudication processes;
campus-wide SA awareness and response training for students, faculty, and
campus law enforcement; guidelines for meeting Clery Act reporting mandates; and, due process procedures for
the accused. Study findings and
suggested recommendations should be useful not only to legislators and campus
leaders, but also to a wide range of justice professionals, service providers,
and advocates.
Fisher, B., Cullen, F., and Turner, M. (2000). The sexual victimization of college
women: Findings from two
national-level studies. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice and
Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Koss, M., Gidycz, C., and Wisniewski, N. (1987). The scope of rape: Incidence and prevalence of sexual
aggression and victimization in a national sample of higher education students.
Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 55(2): 162Ð170.