By Sam Wroblewski 630wpro.com
A newly released survey of Brown University reveals one-in-four female undergraduate students are experienced some form of non-consensual sexual contact while at school.
Brown University was one of 27 institutions which took part in a national email survey conducted last spring by the Association for American Universities to gauge the level of unwanted sexual contact on American college campuses.
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In the survey, 25 percent of undergraduate women reported to have been victim to some form of unwanted sexual contact ranging from kissing, groping, to “penetration due to physical force or incapacitation,” which is legally qualified as rape.
However, the survey shows the vast majority did not report the incidents when they occurred.
According to the survey, of the 10 percent of female students who reported unwanted penetration via force or incapacitate, 70 and 84 percent respectively did not report the incidents, choosing the option “I did not think it was serious enough to report.”
A similar story is told for sexual touching, with 73 percent of women who were touched by force not reporting, and 81 percent of those incapacitated not reporting.
A message was left with Brown University representatives to help clarify the statistics.
In a statement posted on the Brown University website, President Christina Paxson said the survey reinforces the school’s call to action on the issue of campus sexual assault.
“Brown has come a long way since the AAU survey was conducted last April,” Paxson said in her email to the campus. “The data in the AAU report have revealed areas for ongoing attention, including education about available support resources and greater clarity around our procedures,” wrote Paxon.
Last October, two female students alleged they were slipped a “date rape drug” while at a party hosted by the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. The investigation was dropped by the school after a medical lab said there was no conclusive evidence the students had been drugged.
