MINNEAPOLIS — A new survey conducted at the University of Minnesota shows an alarming though consistent number of sexual assaults, and a hopeful increase in training, awareness and bystander intervention.
The Association of American Universities (AAU) Campus Climate Survey, which was last conducted in 2015, was taken by nearly 13,000 students.
It showed that 25.6 percent of undergraduate women have experienced non-consensual sexual contact since they entered the U of M, which is a 2.1 percent increase from 2015. That 1 in 4 statistic has been relatively consistent across the country for the past 30 years, according to Katie Eichle, the director of the Aurora Center for Advocacy and Education at the U.
Eichle said that another key takeaway from the survey is that students who are transgender or gender nonconforming are experiencing sexual assault, harassment and relationship violence at a disproportionate rate.
"We’re looking at, how do we make sure that those populations that are more at risk get more of the resources that they need, but also education and awareness?" Eichle said.
She also said that overall among the students who responded, awareness and training have increased significantly. In 2019, 87.7 percent of incoming students said they completed at least one training on sexual assault - up 47.6 percent from 2015.
Knowledge about how the university defines sexual assault and sexual misconduct also increased by 24.7 percent for graduate and professional women.
Eichle said those increases are the result of very intentional work.
"The other thing we need to focus on is, are we making any change with our education and training efforts?" she said. "And I would say absolutely. And so in order to get these sexual misconduct to stop altogether, you have to take into context, what are the rates that are occurring, what is the prevention and education that we are doing, and then over a 10-year span you look at, where were we when we started and have we made significant impact over that 10 years?"
Eichle said that the numbers also show that significant numbers of students are speaking out and helping each other out of unsafe situations.
More than three in four students said they took some kind of action when they witnessed a situation they thought could lead to a sexual assault.
You can read the full report on the survey, or look at the data tables.
