Many conversations to combat sexual assault are being held in institutions of higher education across the nation. National campus rape stories from recent years have brought to light how sexual assault is a problem multiple colleges face.
While the discussions to end sexual assault are still prevalent, an article by Inside Higher Ed depicts how the on-campus sexual assault dialogue is beginning to shift. Polls, surveys, statistics, and research are all being questioned by an increasingly skeptical audience. This audience includes college students, administrative officials, and other higher education faculty and professionals who believe that the data on the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses are misleading.
In current data about sexual assault, a popular figure keeps reemerging. Several outlets like the Washington Post report that 1 out of 5 women are sexually assaulted on college campuses. This figure is displayed across billboards, in videos about sexual assault awareness, pamphlets, flyers, posters and many other forms of media aimed at combatting campus rape.
The 20% figure has been repeatedly contested due to the nature of the surveys and polls. The same article emphasizes that “20 percent of young women say they were sexually assaulted in college.” The keyword here is “say.” The polls and surveys that the 20% figure is based on are conducted in a self-response manner where there is no follow-up to the answers provided. This leaves us in a “he said” “she said” situation, which creates a dilemma. The challenge is creating a system that is fair and equitable to all parties involved.
Yet another complaint about how the surveys and polls are carried out is the way they are worded. The Weekly Standard conveyed clear feeling against word choice and sentence structure. Their comment against the Washington Post Sexual Assault Poll of 1,053 people aged 17-26 that concluded with the 20% figure is that it is “more college rape hype.” Their claim is that poll questions “are so broad as to invite survey respondents to complain about virtually any encounter that they later regretted.”
The idea that that young college women see polls and surveys as an opportunity to take back decisions they made in their intimate life is common among those who question how big the sexual assault problem is. Women right advocates and higher education officials worry that this attitude diminishes the seriousness needed in handling sexual assault reports. They also believe that this places blame on victims of sexual assault.
Also worthy of consideration is that the surveys and polls are one of the only outlets for young college women to express what amount of control they feel like they have over their own bodies on a college campus. Survey supporters argue that getting rid of surveys and polls will make sexual assault cases less known. They reiterate that there already exists a lack of reporting to the proper higher authorities when sexual assault happens.
As a young college woman, I think that one campus rape case is one too many. I don’t want to take away from the valid concerns expressed by those who question the polls and surveys. I do believe that knowing the real magnitude of a problem is a crucial step in trying to figure out how to solve it, but in this situation, skepticism has not provided solutions and been counterproductive to efforts made to address the issue at hand. We must continue to try to support victims and not invalidate their experiences.
In the TCU community there are many resources and offices available for victims of sexual assault that can be found in the directory. There is also a student-led movement called “Not on My Campus,” which was created as a space in which to start a dialogue on prevention and a change in campus culture. “The campaign also provides education on statistics, prevention, reporting procedures, and peer-to-peer support.”