Most GWU Students Misinformed About Sexual Assault On Campus, Study Shows

The majority of George Washington University students are misinformed regarding post-sexual assault procedures on campus, according to a new study released by the Sexual Violence Awareness Group at GWU's medical school and the Younger Women's Task Force.

Report authors Megan Evans and Shannon Lynberg analyzed the responses of 1,031 undergraduate and graduate GWU students. They found that there was a consistent difference between how men and women responded as well as between the responses of students of different years, and that most students are misinformed regarding post-assault procedures. Some notable findings include:

• 89 percent of respondents mistakenly believe that Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) offer rape kits at GWU Hospital -- such kits are only available at Washington Hospital Center.
• 71 percent reported feeling confident that GW has the resources to help assault victims
• 61 percent believe sexual assault to be a problem on campus
• 16 percent of female respondents reported knowing a victim of assault, as opposed to 11 percent of male respondents
• 63 percent of responding females believe sexual assault to be a problem at GW, and 56 percent of male respondents agreed
• For the most part, a higher percentage of older students thought sexual assault was a problem on campus than younger students

The survey's authors believe that the discrepancy between the amount of reported cases of sexual assault -- 3.5 percent of female students per year -- and the significantly higher amount of students who believe assault to be a problem exists due to unreported incidents.

The preliminary report has more recommendations and statistics. What do you think of these findings? Share your opinion in the comments section.

Comments

[Said One]

06:42 AM on 12/21/2010

How many rapists and sexual predators live near their campus - there were sites that offered prospective students maps showing the most dangerous campuses based on the number of sexual predators paroled and living near their campuses. If there are high numbers then knowing this information like where to find rape kits becomes critical.

[HazMat5]

12:08 PM on 12/21/2010

by and large, students don't take advantage of the information available,
this is why the Clery Act is a massive failure - publish all the crime statistics you want but it doesn't make any difference if most students never bother to look at them

[cf01]

11:15 PM on 12/21/2010

When a young woman is admitted to a high prestige school, she doesn't want to look at those statistics. It doesn't matter anyway, because the figure is more like 1 in 5 (20%) not the 3.5% figure cited here -- and the only way a girl is going to avoid this kind of utterly disgusting physical harassment is to go to a woman's college.

Is it any wonder that women are TWICE as likely to major in the sciences at women's colleges than at co-ed institutions -- where this frat-boy rape culture in the "male dominated" fields just totally turns them off?

[Jean Larkai]

06:09 PM on 01/28/2011

...Maybe the message should be "Do Not Rape" instead of "Don't live here."