All Entries in the "Sexual Assault/Harassment" Category
Report Reveals New Data on Sexual Assault and Misconduct in Higher Education
According to a new report from Westat, nearly 19 percent of women and 21 percent of genderqueer students experienced some form of nonconsensual sexual misconduct in 2024. This is a decrease from 2019.
NCAA Report Uncovers Jarring Online Abuse Towards Women Student-Athletes During the 2024 March Madness Tournament
“Student-athletes come to college hoping to fulfill their athletic and academic dreams, and our job at the NCAA is to provide them with the most fulfilling experience possible. We will exhaust all options to reduce the harassment and vitriol student-athletes are experiencing too often today,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker.
Spelman College Partners with HERide to Enhance Campus Safety and Support Services
HERide is a public rideshare service that is dedicated to providing safe, reliable, and woman-friendly transportation for both drivers and passengers. This new partnership will create a safer campus for Spelman College students during the current Red Zone time period when sexual assault cases on college campuses are at their highest.
Grants or Gifts Relating to Women in Higher Education
Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
Study Examines Prevalence of Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Among OB/GYN Clinicians
Over the past 10 years, women’s representation among OB/GYN clinicians has significantly increased. However, despite the field being dominated by women, sexual harassment and discrimination were found to be prevalent among clinicians, especially medical students and surgical trainees.
Study Discovers Domestic Violence in California Results in $73 Billion Cost to the State
The study found that in 2022, California underwent $73 billion in healthcare expenses, lost productivity and income, criminal justice expenditures, and resource programs due to domestic violence cases.
Eight Out of Every Ten Women Polar Scientists Report Negative Experiences During Research Expeditions
Despite the large majority of women polar scientists reporting negative experiences, most women still wanted to continue doing polar research, suggesting an urgent need to improve their working conditions.
Indiana University Study Finds Women Gamers Frequently Dismiss Sexual Harassment as Typical Gamer Behavior
The study observed that over half of women participants experienced some form of sexual harassment during online gaming. But when prompted to label these interactions, the majority of these women dismissed the incidents as simply typical gamer behavior.
Sexual Assault, Bullying, and Harassment on the Basis of Sex in U.S. Schools
In the 2020-21 academic year, there were 2,700 instances of sexual assault in schools including 350 incidents of rape or attempted rape. There were 14,900 students who reported being harassed or bullied on the basis of sex and 20,800 students were disciplined for bullying or harassment on the basis of sex.
Georgia Tech Researchers Aim to Use Artificial Intelligence to Aid Domestic Abuse Survivors
Georgia Tech researchers are working to create a new software tool powered by artificial intelligence to address the under-researched area of digital security and domestic abuse. These areas frequently overlap with abusers often using the internet and mobile technology to extend the reach of their abuse.
Report Finds Women Face Blatant Sexism in Army Special Forces
In 2015, all combat positions in the Army were opened to women. Today, there are about, 2,300 women in Army special forces units, about 8 percent of the total. Some 40 percent of all women in the special forces reported in a survey they had been impacted by gender bias. Later focus groups hinted that the percentage was probably much higher.
Enrollments Rebound at the Virginia Military Institute Two Years After Report Found Rampant Sexism on Campus
Two years after a blistering independent investigation found entrenched sexism and racism at the Virginia Military Institute and a subsequent drop in enrollments, this fall the number of first-year students has increased significantly. Women are 14.5 percent of the incoming class.
Study Debunks a Commonly Help Belief About Victims of Rape
If a victim freezes or does not attempt to resist during a sexual assault, perpetrators often claim there was passive acquiescence. A new study presents neuroscientific evidence that counters that misconception. Many survivors of sexual assault report ‘freezing’ during an assault. The researchers argue that this is an involuntary response to a threat that can prevent a victim from actively resisting.
Survey Finds Sexual Assaults on College Campuses Are Rarely Reported to the Proper Authorities
A new survey conducted by Vector Solutions, a company that produces sexual violence risk-management training materials for higher educational institutions, finds that only 6 percent of victims of sexual assault notify campus or local police authorities. Some 7 percent reported the assault to a campus administrator and only 3 percent went to an on-campus crisis center.
Niagara University to Lead New Study on Gender-Based Violence on College Campuses
The Vincent Commission will partner with Niagara University to conduct “The New Ground Study on Gender-based Violence” to focus on understanding how young men, through their thoughts and experiences, perceive domestic and gender-based violence.
Study Finds Widespread Sexual Harassment in Academic Medicine
A new study led by Reshma Jagsi, chair of the department of radiation oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, finds that women are disproportionately affected by workplace mistreatment in academic medicine, and this mistreatment negatively impacts their mental health.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Launches New Program to Increase Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners
Currently, there are fewer than 100 sexual assault nurse examiners in Wisconsin. Of these, even fewer are certified.
Study Finds That Women in STEM Disciplines in College Experience Greater Incidence of Sexual Violence
The study by scholars at Georgia State University and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston found that women majoring in STEM disciplines that are gender balanced reported more sexual violence victimization in the form of sexual coercion, attempted sexual coercion, attempted rape, and rape compared to their peers in both gender-balanced and male-dominated non-STEM majors and in male-dominated STEM majors.
Survey Finds Women in Academic Earth and Space Science Face Widespread Discrimination
The researchers found that more than half of women scientists experienced identity-based discriminatory remarks. More than 40 percent of women respondents said they experienced bullying and intimidation and 43 percent said they thought their work was devalued. More than 15 percent of women said they had experienced fear for their physical safety.
A New Online Tool to Assess the Campus Climate Regarding Sexual Assault, Prevention, and Victim Support
The Campus Accountability Map + Tool empowers current and prospective students, survivors, and their communities with the ability to view in-depth information on each institution’s sexual assault investigation policies, prevention efforts, and available survivor support resources as well as high-level statistics on definitions, trainings, sanctions, and investigations.
Cornell Suspends Fraternity Events After Drugging and Sexual Assault Incidents
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has temporarily suspended all fraternity parties and social events. The ban was issued after the alleged drugging of at least four students, and the sexual assault of another student. These incidents reportedly occurred at off-campus residences affiliated with registered fraternities.
Nicole Esposito Wins Her Job Back as Leader of Manchester Community College in Connecticut
Nicole Esposito was removed from her post as leader of Manchester Community College in August 2021, just a little more than a year after taking office. She promptly filed a lawsuit claiming gender discrimination and harassment. The case was recently settled in her favor.
The Rising Plague of Sexual Assault on College Campuses
The number of reported forcible sex offenses on campus increased steadily between 2014 and 2018, from 6,800 to 12,400 incidents (an 83 percent increase, or an average increase of about 16 percent per year). The rate for reported forcible sex offenses increased from 1.7 incidents per 10,000 students in 2009 to 8.0 incidents per 10,000 students in 2019.
Alcohol Increasingly Has Become a Contributing Factor in Campus Sexual Assaults
Research led by Mary Koss, a Regents’ Professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, shows that 30 years ago, 50 percent of women who were assaulted were inebriated at the time of the assault. In the most recent study, 75 percent of the women college students said they were inebriated.
Marquette University Study Examines How Employers Can Combat Domestic Violence
Researchers at the Institute for Women’s Leadership at Marquette University in Milwaukee interviewed domestic violence survivors to better understand the impact of domestic violence on employment experiences and guide workplace policies moving forward.
How the Pandemic Impacted the Frequency and Severity of Domestic Violence
A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan found that in the early months of the pandemic, the overall prevalence of domestic violence didn’t increase, but survivors of intimate partner violence experienced new, more frequent, or more severe violence in that period.
Lawmakers Refuse to Support Victims of Sexual Assault at the Virginia Military Institute
A Virginia statute makes it illegal for a university to punish a student for a drug or alcohol offense that comes to light during a report of sexual assault. The statute applies to every public institution in the Commonwealth, with one notable exception: Virginia Military institute.
Association of American Universities Issues New Guidelines to Address Sexual Assault
The Association of American Universities is a group of 66 of the nation’s leading educational research institutions. The association recently issued a set of eight guidelines addressing sexual misconduct in all forms, including sexual and gender-based harassment and related retaliation.
Reported Sexual Assaults On College Campuses Continue to Increase
A new report from the U.S. Department of Education offers a detailed look at crime and safety at the nation’s schools and on college and university campuses.
Why Do Many Victims of Sexual Assault on College Campuses Remain Silent?
A study, by Sandra Caron, a professor of family relations and human sexuality at the University of Maine, and Deborah Mitchell, a retired UMaine police sergeant, examines why so many women students decline to report incidents of sexual assault to the campus administration or law enforcement authorities.
Investigative Report Documents Women’s Experiences at the Virginia Military Institute
The Virginia Military Institute enrolled its first women cadets enrolled in 1997. Today, women make up only 14 percent of the student body. A new report finds that sexual assault; incidents of gender inequity; a culture of not taking women seriously; double standards for women on matters of dress, social behavior, and sexual behavior are all problems on campus.
Catching Perpetrators of Groping Sexual Assaults
For the past 10 years, Julie Valentine, a professor of nursing at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, has been at the forefront of making touch DNA evidence collection a standard practice in groping cases. She has created a standard form for sexual assault medical examiners to collect touch DNA evidence from survivors’ skin and clothing.
Michigan State University Study Examines Why Young Women Do Not Report Sexual Violence
The researcher found that many of the young women who were raped by their boyfriends had experienced a lot of abuse growing up, which led them to minimize the sexual violence. Additionally, some participants who had been raped noted they had been socialized to believe that forced sex was part of their role as a girlfriend.
New Survey Documents Perceptions of Sexism and Gender Discrimination in the High-Tech Sector
Dice, the leading database for technology professionals, managing over 9 million profiles in the United States, recently released a new survey that examines perceptions of sexism and gender discrimination in the high-tech industry by employees who work in the field.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Domestic Violence in the United States
A survey sponsored by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence found that intimate partner violence, child abuse, and sexual assault have increased during the pandemic. Also, researchers found that professionals who deal with these issues have faced many barriers to serving victims of domestic violence.
