Nearly a third of undergraduate women report experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact, survey finds

Content warning: this article discusses sexual assault and harassment in detail.

Results released last Monday from the Higher Education Sexual Misconduct and Awareness (HESMA) survey found that most reported sexual assaults at Stanford occur in student dormitories and are committed by other students. 

The numbers are “concerning,” University president Jon Levin ’94 said in an interview with The Daily. 

“It’s something that we can and should do better on,” Levin said. “I think the University has an opportunity, from the time students arrive… to have an effective Title IX process.” 

The survey also found that most nonconsensual sexual contact occurs when both parties were under the influence of alcohol. Undergraduate women and students who identified as gender nonbinary, transgender, questioning and/or self-identify (GNTQSI) reported the highest amounts of sexual assault, harassment, intimate partner violence (IPV) and stalking. Compared to other schools that distributed the survey, about the same proportion of students at Stanford reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact.

The report provides insight on the prevalence of sexual assault, sexual harrassment and sexual harrassment behaviors at the University. It also details Stanford students’ opinions on sexual assault and other misconduct at the University, including their self-described knowledge of Stanford’s reporting system and resources.

The survey was conducted from April 30 to May 30 by Westat, a private health, education and social science research firm. Out of 10 participating schools, Stanford had the highest response rate of 43% of undergraduate and graduate students with 7,583 responses total. As an incentive, the University offered $25 to all students who filled out the survey. 

COVID-19 pandemic makes 2024 survey cohort uncomparable to 2019

In October 2019, similar data was collected by the Association of American University’s (AAU) Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct. The AAU discontinued the service of coordinating all the institutions for this survey, so the University sought to find a similar instrument for the 2024 survey.

The 2024 Westat survey differs from the 2019 AAU survey, with more options for questions on gender identity, race and ethnicity.

The disparity in student social experiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic limits the ability to compare 2019 and 2024 data, according to Stanford’s website about the results. While the 2019 cohort of students observed a standard college social experience, the 2024 cohort of  juniors and seniors engaged in remote learning for at least one year, and later, social-distance policies that limited socializing. Due to the drastic differences in experience, students who learned remotely could contribute to less extreme numbers of campus sexual assault and harassment.

Sexual assault and harassment in most groups shows decline from 2019

Keeping in mind the inability to directly compare the 2019 and 2024 surveys due to the pandemic, the rate of nonconsensual sexual contact by physical force or inability to consent for undergraduate women decreased from 23.8% in 2019 to 18.4% in 2024. Female graduate students also experienced a decrease from 9.1% to 6.6%, as did GNTQSI students, from 21.7% to 15.5%. There were no statistically significant changes in these data for male students.

Nonconsensual sexual contact by coercion or without active, ongoing voluntary agreement for undergraduate women saw a 6.3% decrease (18.1% to 11.8%). There was no statistically significant change for female graduate students, male students or GNTQSI students.

There was a statistically significant decrease from 10.4% in 2019 to 8.4% in the prevalence of nonconsensual sexual contact (penetration or sexual touching) by physical force or inability to consent since entering the school for undergraduate women. There was also a significant decrease for female graduate students from 3.0% to 2.2%, with no changes for male students or GNTQSI students.

Nonconsensual sexual contact by coercion or without active, ongoing voluntary agreement revealed a 2.5% decrease for undergraduate women (8.2%-5.7%) and a 1.0% decrease for male undergraduates (2.2%-1.2%).

Harassment also showed a decrease from 37% to 31% for undergraduate women, as well as a 26.3% to 23.2% decrease for female graduate students. GNTQSI students saw a 12.3% decrease (from 55% to 42.7%).

There was no change in IPV for women, but there was a statistically significant decrease for GNTQSI students (18.1%-9.4%) and for male students (9.7%-6.4%).

There was no change in stalking for undergraduate women, but it increased for male undergraduate students from 2.4% in 2019 to 4.2% in 2014.

18% of undergraduate women report experiencing sexual assault

The survey clearly defines sexual assault and harassment in order to collect data. Sexual assault can either be via penetration or sexual touching. 

If a student answered “yes” to having been sexually assaulted, the survey provided a follow up question on the manner of the assault — either physical force, inability to consent, coercion or without voluntary agreement. 18.4% undergraduate women and 6.6% of undergraduate men reported being victims of nonconsensual sexual contact (penetration and/or sexual touching) by physical force or inability to consent. Among graduate students, 6.6% of women and 2.2% of men reported non consensual contact. 18.1% of GNTQSI undergraduate students and 12.8% of GNTQSI graduate students answered “yes,” respectively.

8% of undergraduate women reported they had experienced a penetrative sexual assault, as well as 2.6% of undergraduate men. 4.9% of women said that the tactic was physical force, and 3.2% said there was an inability to consent, with 1.6% reporting both tactics. For undergraduate men, these numbers were 1.3% and 1.0%.

Different defintions of sexual assault impact results

A nuance of sexual assault data collection is how the different tactics affect the numbers. Though Westat typically counted physical force and an inability to consent in their report, Stanford’s analysis included all four tactics: physical force, inability to consent, coercion and lack of active and ongoing voluntary agreement. With these additional tactics, the numbers are higher for all groups in Stanford’s analysis. The data shows that 11.5% of undergraduate women and 3.2% of undergraduate men report experiencing penetrative sexual assault, according to Stanford’s analysis. Additionally, over the four years of undergraduate education, 32% of undergraduate women experience a type of nonconsensual sexual contact, as do 36% of GNTQSI undergraduates and 10% of undergraduate men. In the same category we observe 11%, 24% and 4% for graduate women, GNTQSI students and men, respectively.

10.4% of undergraduate GNTQSI students report penetrative sexual assault

Along with undergraduate women — who are the most at-risk group for campus sexual violence nationally — a large number of assaults were reported by GNTSQI students. 10.4% of undergraduate GNTQSI students experienced a penetrative sexual assault (via physical force or inability to consent), with 5.7% reporting that the tactic was physical force only. 5.9% of GNTQSI graduate students reported a penetrative sexual assault via physical force or inability to consent, with 2.5% reporting that the tactic was physical force only. 

5.6% of heterosexual students — compared to 15.9% of non-heterosexual students — reported nonconsensual sexual contact via physical force or inability to consent. More non-heterosexual students also reported instances of a lack of active, ongoing voluntary consent compared to heterosexual students.

Students who reported a disability reported triple (16.6%) the amount of nonconsensual sexual contact than non-disability students (5.0%) via physical force or inability to consent. 

Over 40% of Stanford students report experiencing sexual harassment

The survey defined “sexual harassment behaviors” as instances where, for example, “someone makes sexual remarks or tells jokes or sexual stories that are insulting” or “makes inappropriate of offensive comments about your or someone else’s body, appearance, or sexual activities.” These behaviors become counted as sexual harassment when the students reports they were affected in at least one of three ways: interfering with the victim’s academic or professional performance, limited the victim’s ability to participate in academic program or creating a hostile environment.

40.4% of all students said they had experienced at least one type of harassing behavior since entering the University. If a student answered yes, the survey asked a follow-up question on how those behaviors affected the student’s life. 19.6% of students answered the behavior affected them in at least one way, meaning they experienced sexual harassment in the combination of behavior and tactic.

Intimate Partner Violence and Stalking

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a form of harassment from a partner that involves controlling behaviors, threatened harm or actual force. Of the 68.5% of Stanford students who reported having been in a relationship, 7.2% reported experiencing at least one type of IPV. HESMA listed a specific definition for IPV in the survey, asking students if they had received “unwanted messages, pictures or videos,” been “spied on, watched, or followed in person,” and more. 14.3% of students indicated they had experienced at least one form of stalking.

Knowledge about school’s sexual assault policies and procedures

Students feel less knowledgeable about the process of reporting and policies in 2024 than they did in 2019. For undergraduate women, 29.4% said they were very or extremely knowledgeable about the process in 2019 compared to 27.1% in 2024.

Roughly 28.9% of gender conforming undergraduates and graduates feel they are very or extremely knowledgeable about Stanford’s policies and procedures regarding sexual assault. 24.2% of GNTQSI undergraduate students agreed, as did 37.0% of that category of graduate students. Notably, 24.5% of students reported being very or extremely knowledgeable about where to make a Title IX report, and only 15.6% reported that they are very or extremely knowledgeable about what happens after an incident has been reported.

Student concerns about sexual assault and other misconduct at Stanford decline

Women on campus showed an overall decrease in thinking that sexual assault and misconduct at Stanford was very or extremely problematic from 2019 to 2024, down from 45.4% to 37.0%. For female graduate students, the number decreased from 27.3% to 23.9%. An overwhelming 60.7% of GNTQSI students said that sexual assault and misconduct at Stanford was very or extremely problematic in the 2024 survey. 

Only 13.4% of students perceive that school officials are very or extremely concerned about their well-being.

The post Nearly a third of undergraduate women report experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact, survey finds appeared first on The Stanford Daily.