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The Dartmouth
March 29, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

College sees high response rate in AAU survey

The results from the College’s first-ever sexual assault campus climate survey, conducted this spring by the American Association of Universities, were released online on Monday morning, revealing a slightly higher average sexual assault rate than other surveyed colleges. College President Phil Hanlon sent links to the data along with comments in a campus-wide email the same day.

At Dartmouth, 13 percent of students reported having experienced attempted or completed nonconsensual sexual contact by incapacitation or physical force since entering the institution. Therate across the 27 participating institutions was slightly lower at 12 percent.

Nearly 28 percent of female undergraduate students reporting experiencing nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching by way of physical force or incapacitation since entering the College. More than 13 percent reported experiencing nonconsensual penetration do to physical force or incapacitation. With respect to sexual touching, 21.6 percent of female undergraduates reported experiencing this form of assault.

Nearly five percent of undergraduate male students reported experiencing either nonconsensual penetration or sexual touching due to physical force or incapacitation since entering the College.

There were 2,796 Dartmouth students who took the survey, with 1,994 undergraduate students and 802 graduate or professional students responding. This made the College one of the institutions with the top five highest response rates, at a rate of 41.7 percent. Across the 27 participating universities, the average response rate was 19 percent.

College spokesperson Diana Lawrence said she believes that the College’s unusually high response rate is due to a greater awareness of sexual assault and its definition at the College.

“I think the survey results show Dartmouth students know more about sexual assault and sexual misconduct, that they reported at a higher rate,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence said the high reporting rate reflects well on the College’s commitment to awareness and education about such issues.

“Schools that have been doing a strong job raising awareness and understanding of sexual assault will have higher response rates, which are statistically correlated to the prevalence rates found in the study,” Lawrence said.

Of the respondents at Dartmouth, 1,406 were women, 1,346 were men, 29 identified as transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, questioning or an unlisted gender and 15 declined to identify. The survey data is adjusted using a weighting system for non-respondents, according to the AAU executive summary online.

AAU vice president for public affairs Barry Toiv said that colleges and universities self-reported their results, individually deciding how to present their data or whether to release it at all. Toiv said the AAU itself did not see the numbers until the day of the release.

The report noted that female undergraduate students were the most likelygroup to report having experienced attempted or completed nonconsensual sexual contact since entering the College. At Dartmouth, female students were more likelyto report this experience than male students, and undergraduates were more likelyto report than graduate or professional students.

For female undergraduates in their senior year, the rate at which they reported nonconsensual sexual contact by force or incapacitation rose to 33.8 percent. The average among the 27 participating universities was 27 percent.

Among Dartmouth respondents, 56 percent reported having been victims of sexual harassment. The AAU aggregate rate across the 27 participating institutions was lower, at 48 percent.

Student Assembly president Frank Cunningham ’16 said that although he did find some of the report’s statistics to be encouraging and promising, much of it speaks to students’ continued need to recognize the prevalence of sexual assault.

“These numbers reflect something that we all have to be aware of, that this is our community and we cannot allow these types of evils to occur here, that we do need to change and we do need to continue to intervene when we all see something wrong is happening,” Cunningham said.

Female and transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, gender unlisted or questioning students reported higher rates than male students. Cunningham said he found this statistic particularly troubling.

Fifty-seven percent of Dartmouth students indicated that they believe it is very or extremely likely that a victim of sexual misconduct or assault would be supported by fellow students, a rate that is close to the AAU aggregate of 55 percent. At the College, 68 percent of students indicated that it is very or extremely likely that a report of sexual assault would be taken seriously by campus officials. This response was five percentage points higher than the AAU aggregate rate.

When asked if they believe that campus officials would conduct a fair investigation into a report of sexual misconduct or assault, 43 percent of Dartmouth students indicated that it is very likely that this would occur. The rate across the 27 participating institutions is 49 percent.

Of the 61 percent who had witnessed drunken students about to engage in some kind of sexual encounter, 31 percent reported taking some type of action. The corresponding rates in the AAU aggregate data were 44 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

Cunningham said he found this statistic promising, explaining that it could serve as proof that the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative program is effective.

Dartmouth undergraduates reported a higher rate of knowledge about sexual misconduct procedures and available resources than the AAU aggregate rates, with 33 percent of students reporting feeling very or extremely knowledgeable about how the College defines sexual assault and misconduct and 44 percent reporting knowing where to find help if they or a friend experience sexual assault or misconduct. The corresponding AAU aggregate rates were 24 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

Lawrence said she was encouraged by this statistic, and that it serves as evidence that the College’s “tremendous efforts” over the past two years in sexual assault education are proving useful.

Economics professor Bruce Sacerdote, who declined to comment over the phone, will chair a data-analysis committee composed of students, faculty and staff who will“synthesize and compare” the data with the results of othersurveys conducted by the College on the topic of sexual assault and misconduct. In October, the College will also launch its own survey — the Community Study — to look at sexual assault and the broader campus climate regarding academics and residential life.

In an email, Sacerdote wrote that his motivation for conducting such research was to help bring disturbing and important issues to clarity. He explained that first, the committee hopes to better understand the rates of assault by type and severity of incident.

The committee will also seek ways to correct for survey response and reporting bias. He believes these actions will lead to certain policies that could be tested to reduce the problems.

Toiv said the AAU itself will not provide any specific guidance in regard to the results, and that it is the individual responsibility of participating colleges and universities to use the data in a way they see fit.

“It’s a very rich data set for all of them,” Toiv said. “The survey was so comprehensive that it’s really going to help them get a better understanding of what their students experiences and attitudes are.”

Lawrence said that administrators will use the data to strengthen and supplement preexisting resources for those who have experienced sexual misconduct at the College. She referenced the smartphone app — called LiveSafe — created by Safety and Security, the pilot of a four-year sexual assault awareness curriculum and the planned launch of an online consent manual as examples of continued efforts.

“There are immediate actions that the College is taking and then there will be other actions that will fall out of the analysis of the data to sharpen our policies and strengthen programs and services, in a more targeted fashion,” Lawrence said.

Cunningham said students should appreciate the report’s positive aspects but also be cognizant of the abuses it reveals.

“I really hope that we can examine this report with a critical eye, but also see the good in it, that Dartmouth is making these changes that are needed, but also see ... that these issues are present on our campus,” Cunningham said.

Sexual Assault Awareness Program coordinator Amanda Childress declined to comment, redirecting inquiries to Lawrence. Representatives of the Student and Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault and Title IX coordinator Heather Lindkvist could not be reached by press time.