All Entries in the "Sexual Assault/Harassment" Category
New AAUW Report Examines the Reasons for the Large Gender Gap in Manufacturing Jobs
Women are more likely to quit jobs in manufacturing than women in other industries, reflecting a history of sexual harassment, unequal pay and opportunity denied. A survey by the American Association of University Women found that more than 82 percent of women in manufacturing jobs reported unwanted touching, kissing, or other physical advances.
A Woman’s Appearance Impacts Their Perceived Credibility on Sexual Harassment Claims
A new study by researchers at Colby College in Maine, Princeton University in New Jersey, and the University of Washington finds that women who are young, “conventionally attractive” and appear and act feminine are more likely to be believed when making accusations of sexual harassment than other women.
U.S. Department of Education Reports New Data on Campus Sexual Assaults
The number of reported rapes and sexual assaults has been on the rise. In 2017, there were 10,308 reports of forced sexual assaults on the nation’s college campuses, compared to under 3,000 in 2010. It is unclear whether this increase is due to increased numbers of sexual assaults, an increased willingness to report such incidents, or both.
Those Accused of Sexual Assault on College Campuses Get a Break From Betsy DeVos
The new regulations some Title IX provisions but they also stipulate that colleges and universities “restore fairness on college and university campuses by upholding all students’ right to written notice of allegations, the right to an advisor, and the right to submit, cross-examine, and challenge evidence at a live hearing.”
NCAA Faces Litigation Over Sexual Violence by Male Student Athletes
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is the subject of a lawsuit that claims the organization has not done enough to shield women college students from sexual assaults by male student athletes. Plaintiffs in the case include students from the University of Nebraska and Michigan State University.
New Study Finds That Activism and Intervention Can Drastically Decrease Domestic Violence
Researchers at George Washington University’s Global Women’s Institute have published a new study that found that women’s advocacy groups can change social norms and produce significant reductions in domestic violence against women.
University of Rochester Settles Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
The suit, originally filed in 2017, claimed that the university retaliated against and defamed the plaintiffs after they alleged sexual harassment by a faculty member.
The University of Arkansas Opens the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Center
The Sexual and Relationship Violence Center — which is different than the office of Title IX — strengthens the University of Arkansas’ health center’s efforts to further partner with other university offices and departments to be involved in prevention and response efforts.
Simmons University Offering New Online Training for Healthcare Workers Who Deal With Sexual Violence
The School of Social Work at Simmons University in Boston announced that it is now offering a comprehensive online domestic violence and sexual violence training program to educate health professionals and prepare them for work with survivors, children exposed to violence, and people who engage in violence.
Survey Finds That More Than 40 Percent of Women Medical Students Report Mistreatment
A new study lead by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine finds that more than 40 percent of women medical students reported experiencing at least one episode of mistreatment by faculty, peers, or clinical staff. Mistreatment included discrimination, assault, verbal abuse, and sexual harassment.
University of Hawai’i Releases Results of Student Survey on Sexual Misconduct
The survey reported an uptick in reported incidents of sexual assault and misconduct from a similar survey conducted two years ago. But 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.”
Yale University Study Finds a Major Impact of the #MeToo Movement on Sexual Assault Reporting
The authors found that in the first three months after the movement launched on social media, there was a 7 percent increase in the number of reported sexual assaults. This increase accounted for the reporting of about 4,600 additional crimes and was spread evenly across racial and socioeconomic groups.
Study Finds Sexual Harassment Increases as Women Move Up the Corporate Ladder
The authors found that women supervisors are between 30 to 100 percent more likely to have been sexually harassed in the last 12 months than women workers generally. Among supervisors, the risk is larger in lower- and mid-level positions of leadership and when subordinates are mostly male.
A Novel Approach to Help Fight Sexual Assault on College Campuses
The university is offering free coasters that women can take to bars, parties, and restaurants. The coasters afford users the ability to test their drinks for gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and ketamine, two substances that are used to incapacitate women by rapists.
Study Finds That Student Athletes Are a Disproportionate Percentage of Campus Sexual Offenders
The study by the USA Today Network found that student athletes make up about 3 percent of total enrollments but were 9 percent of the student disciplined for sexual misconduct. Football players account for only 1 percent of total enrollments but were 6 percent of all students disciplined for sexual misconduct.
New Study Documents High Levels of Mistreatment of Women Surgical Residents
The study reports that sexual harassment, verbal/physical abuse and pregnancy/childcare discrimination primarily came from the attending surgeons and other residents. Gender discrimination came mostly from patients and their families.
New Survey Shows More Than a Quarter of Undergraduate Women Students Have Been Victims of Sexual Misconduct
A survey conducted by the Association of American Universities finds that 26 percent of undergraduate women students have been victims of sexual assault or misconduct. For graduate women, 10.8 percent were victims of sexual assault or misconduct. For both undergraduate and graduate women, the rates increased from an earlier AAU survey conducted in 2015.
Dartmouth College Agrees to a $14 Million Settlement of a Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
The suit claimed that three male professors in the department of psychological and brain sciences “leered at, groped, sexted, intoxicated and even raped female students.”
University of Colorado Study Finds Sexual Harassment on the Decline But Gender Harassment on the Rise
The study found that since the onset of the #MeToo movement, women are experiencing less sexual harassment in the workplace. But the authors found that gender harassment is increasing as a backlash to anti-sexual harassment movements.
Most Academic Conferences in Biology Do Not Have Codes of Conduct Governing Sexual Harassment
In examining nearly 200 conferences in the United States and Canada, researchers found that less than one quarter had developed a code of conduct for attendees. Of those conferences that did have a code of conduct, slightly more than half mentioned sexual harassment or sexual misconduct.
Georgia State Psychologists Identify Best Strategies for Bystander Intervention Against Sexual Misconduct
A new study by led by psychologists at Georgia State University in Atlanta finds that young men can successfully intervene in peer groups to prevent sexual violence against women if they appeal to a shared sense of morality.
University of Wyoming Will Create Four New Jobs Aimed at Preventing and Responding to Sexual Assault
Three new positions will be staffed in 2020: a student-athlete well-being coordinator, a psychology graduate assistant for the trauma and sexual assault prevention laboratory, and a diversity specialist and investigator in the Equal Opportunity Report and Response office. In 2021, a sexual assault prevention educator position will be added.
Georgia Southern University Men Joining the Fight Against Sexual Violence on Campus
The 17-member Prevention of Men’s Violence Against Women Champions Committee is charged with a mission to establish a sense of ownership of the issue and to provide sexual violence prevention tools as it pertains to their particular areas of influence.
For College Sexual Assault Perpetrators, It May Be Not How Much You Drink But Where You Drink
The results of a study by researchers at Washington State University and the University at Buffalo show that college men’s presence at “drinking venues” such as frat houses or local bars was a better predictor of sexual aggression than binge-drinking behavior or propensity for casual sex.
Large Majority of Undergraduate Women Physics Students Subjected to Sexual Harassment
The authors of a new study on women undergraduates in physics programs refer to the level of sexual harassment faced by women in physics as “insidious and significantly higher than is generally acknowledged.” They believe this level of sexual harassment can have a major negative impact of women’s persistence in physics and other STEM fields.
Colleges and Universities Join With the National Academies to Combat Sexual Harassment in Higher Education
The initiative is designed to be an active space where colleges, universities, and research and training organizations can research and develop efforts that move beyond basic legal compliance to evidence-based policies and practices for addressing and preventing all forms of sexual harassment.
Rutgers University Conference Explores Best Practices on Campus Sexual Assault Response and Prevention
Throughout the conference, scholars discussed various topics, such as how colleges and universities can partner with high schools to address these issues before college, providing and promoting needed services for campus survivors, and ensuring students’ rights are protected if they are accused of sexual violence.
Did Lehigh University Ignore Sexual Harassment Claims to Help Maintain a Racially Diverse Faculty?
Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is facing a lawsuit after a faculty member claims the university retained a prominent Black professor, despite evidence that he had sexually harassed women colleagues.
Survey Finds That Women Economists Face Widespread Discrimination and Harassment
Some 42 percent of women economists reported that they had experienced some form of sexual harassment. And 6 percent of women economists reported unwanted sexual advances by another economist.
University of Michigan Researchers Adapt Sexual Assault Program for Use at a University in Ghana
The program was adapted from Relationship Remix, the sexual violence prevention program delivered to incoming freshman at the University of Michigan. The effort tailored the program to address specific issues facing students at the African university.
Clemson University Partners With Local Heath Network to Train Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners
The goal is to increase the number of trained sexual assault nurse examiners and the number of certified sexual assault nurse examiners at health care facilities in Greenville and surrounding counties. This will enable the organization to have 24-hour, seven-day-a-week coverage for patients.
Dartmouth College Launches Campus Climate and Culture Initiative
This semester, Dartmouth College launched the Campus Climate and Culture Initiative, a comprehensive set of actions that aim to create a learning environment free from sexual harassment and abuse of power.
University of Central Florida Researchers Develop Forensic Tool to Assist in Sexual Assault Cases
Candice Bridge, an assistant professor of chemistry, has spent the last two years building and testing a database of condom and lubriabts at the National Center for Forensic Science at the University of Central Florida. The goal is to fill in the gaps when DNA evidence is unavailable from a sexual assault crime scene
Dartmouth College Launches Mandatory Sexual Violence Prevention Course for Faculty and Staff
The new initiative comes on the heels of a recent lawsuit filed by seven women that claims that three male professors in the department of psychological and brain sciences “leered at, groped, sexted, intoxicated and even raped female students.”
Two Thirds of Women Who File Sexual Harassment Claims Face Retaliation From Their Employers
A new study by scholars at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, examined more than 46,000 complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or fair employment practices agencies at the state level between 2012 and 2016. Some 68 percent of all employees who filed sexual harassment complaints reported some form of retaliation from their employers.
