The University of Hawaiʻi officially released its latest biennial student survey on sexual harassment and gender-based violence issues. The survey was sent to more than 40,000 students at all campuses of the university system including four-year universities, community colleges, and graduate and professional schools.
The survey reported an uptick in reported incidents of sexual assault and misconduct from a similar survey conducted two years ago. For example:
- 7.2 percent reported nonconsensual sexual contact (6.3 percent in 2017)
- 12.7 percent reported being sexually harassed (9.3 percent in 2017)
- 10.6 percent reported being stalked (9.7 percent 2017)
- 21.3 percent said they were victims of dating or domestic violence (19.1 percent in 2017)
However, the university stated that “this was expected with greater awareness of these issues on UH campuses and in the national conversation with the #MeToo movement.”
The survey did present some encouraging results. The overwhelming majority of the students surveyed, 86.3 percent, said they felt little or no personal risk of being sexually harassed or sexually assaulted while on campus. On the question of how problematic sexual assault or harassment is at the university, 66.5 percent of students reported that the issue of sexual harassment and sexual assault is a little problematic (27.3 percent) or not at all problematic (39.2 percent). The number of students selecting the “Not at all” option, increased significantly by 9 percentage points from the 2017 survey.