I N D I A N A D A I LY S T U D E N T | W E D N E S D AY, O C T. 2 1 , 2 0 1 5 | I D S N E W S . C O M
IDS SEXUAL ASSAULT
‘SOBERING’ Survey data portrays student experiences, attitudes toward sexual misconduct A breakdown of the data
By Hannah Alani halani@indiana.edu | @HannahAlani
* * * The 162-question online sexual assault survey first reached students’ emails in early November of last year. Six days later, students received the survey for a second time from Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith. His subject line read, “It’s On Us: A serious issue that affects us all.” He wrote, “We need everyone’s response. It all starts with you.” A third and final email came from Goldsmith on Nov. 30, 2014, three days before the deadline for responses, with the subject line: “FINAL MESSAGE — A serious issue that affects us all.” Almost a year later, a total of 7,132 student responses were compiled into the administration’s final report, released Tuesday. This is the first sexual assault survey of its kind IU has conducted. It is a result of increased scrutiny of how universities’ administrations address sexual assault. On May 1, 2014, news broke that IUBloomington was under Title IX compliance review, meaning the United States Department of Education would look into the mishandling of campus sexual assault cases. An exact breakdown of the survey’s funding could not be provided by Fasone Tuesday. About $5,000 of a grant through the Women’s Philanthropy Council helped pay for data cleaning, while the Provost’s Office provided money for the 400 $50 Amazon gift cards, which were used to incentivise response. Fasone began working on a survey for IU before the compliance review began. She and Justin Garcia, a researcher at the Kinsey Institute, aimed to mirror the White House’s “Not Alone” survey, released in April of 2014, while drawing on other key components of analysis. * * * The survey is broken down into three sections: campus culture, experiences of sexual misconduct and attitudes, perceptions and beliefs. If respondents reported that they had experienced misconduct, they were given the option to elaborate. About 36 percent of female students — 431 individuals — who reported nonconsensual sexual activity went on to
17% 6% 77%
Finished at least 50% of the survey
Graphics by Alexa Chryssovergis | aachryss@indiana.edu | @achryssovergis
Who responded? According to the Division of Student Affairs within the Dean of Students office, 23 percent of the IU population
Perception of legal consent Combining results from all undergraduate and graduate men and women, 16.3 percent of the students agreed a woman who is drinking heavily can still give legal consent to sexual activity. About a fifth of undergraduate men agreed with this statement. Percentages of those who agreed with the prompt are shown in the bar chart. Where did the incident occur? The most commonly reported location of assault for undergraduate women was at an off-campus residence, at 23.3 percent. For graduate women, it was also at an off-campus residence, at 32.1 percent. For undergraduate
ttelford@umail.iu.edu @ttelford1883
Maritza Alvarez sat down with her patient, a Mexican nun, and explained to her in Spanish the steps to schedule her medical appointments. That patient had previously spent 45 minutes on the phone, as she was transferred from line to line while she battled a language barrier. By the time she hung up, she had unknowingly scheduled herself for critical tests on a day which
she couldn’t attend. As a registered nurse for Volunteers in Medicine, Alvarez deals with situations like this every day: people struggling with foreign languages, a complicated health system and their own extensive medical needs. Her patients have lived in the United States for longer than a decade but never once been to a doctor, have had children without receiving any pre-natal care, don’t know how to read nutrition labels, and don’t understand the importance of a balanced
began the survey. However, results were compiled from only the 17 percent of students who completed at least half of the survey. This data is shown in the chart.
25
24.0 20.3
20 15.8
15 10
12.3
Fasone said people who have experienced sexual assault may have been less likely to take the survey or continue answering questions about their experiences with nonconsensual sexual contact. All in all, the sample size was large enough and comprehensive enough to construct an authentic picture of sexual assault experiences and attitudes at IU. The sexual misconduct experiences section has provided information that, until now, IU could only estimate. The information is important because sexual assault is so underreported, she said. “To learn about that and say, ‘Here’s what’s actually happening,’ is incredibly important,” Fasone said. “It’s sobering.” * * *
0 Undergraduate women Graduate women Undergraduate men Graduate men
men, the most common location was at an off-campus event, at 36.4 percent, and graduate men reported the most common location to be either an off-campus event or in a bar, club, restaurant, both at 33.3 percent. This graph shows more all responses in percentages.
On On At a At a At an offOffOff In a bar/ Other campus campus fraternity greek campus campus campus, club/ residence outside or event or event residence outside restaurant hall or other sorority party house
Undergraduate women Graduate women
* * *
5
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Undergraduate men Graduate men
This Saturday a conference, open to college students across Indiana, will take place at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis. Next Tuesday there will be a panel discussion for students to listen and ask questions. Communication is also a big part of what prevention looks like to the administration. IU is working on framing their messages more consistently across prevention and education platforms. Fasone said one of the biggest reasons students do not tell anyone about a sexual assault incident is “fear of retaliation.” Providing information to people about where they can share their stories and where they can get connected to campus resources is a vital part of her job. While she’s already seen an increase in reporting through the Office of Student Ethics, the number of unreported incidents remains very high. IU plans to continue educating students on the sexual misconduct process, in an effort to hold students accountable. Fasone said she hopes these efforts, combined with student participation, can eventually change the culture. This story is part of ongoing reporting by the IDS Investigations staff. Contact investigations@idsnews.com for inquiries or comments.
Volunteers in Medicine serves uninsured Latinos By Taylor Telford
Started the survey but didn’t finish 50% or more Did not respond to the survey
PERCENT
No matter what the data indicates, sexual assault is an “IU problem,” Leslie Fasone said. “But it’s also a cultural problem,” she said. Fasone is the lead administrator on the IUBloomington’s Community Attitudes and Experiences with Sexual Assault survey. Of the women who experienced sexual assault at IU by the end of the fall semester last year, 86 percent did not report the incident, according to data from IU’s first sexual assault climate survey, which was released Tuesday. “Unless somebody reports it, our hands are tied,” said Fasone, assistant dean for women’s and gender affairs. Among the undergraduate women who chose not to report sexual misconduct, 45 percent said they also felt it was not “serious enough to disclose to others.” They didn’t tell anyone. Data from the report sheds light on what is needed from IU: increased risk and prevention efforts. But until attitudes, beliefs and perceptions change, the administration’s role will only have so much bearing, Fasone said. “Students are invaluable to creating change,” Fasone said.
give more information about what had happened. The section on campus culture helps Fasone better understand the feelings students have toward the University, which she said will be helpful especially in prevention efforts. Questions about how drunkenness plays into consent were added to this section because it is an issue students bring up often, Fasone said. “That’s one of our biggest challenges working with some of our students, is to help them better understand alcohol and consent and what ‘impaired’ means,” she said. Among undergraduates, about 20 percent of men and 12 percent of women surveyed agreed that, “A woman who is drinking heavily can still give legal consent to sexual assault activity.” Additionally, alcohol or drug use or some combination thereof was present in as many as 83 percent of incidents reported.
diet and exercise. VIM is the only free medical clinic in Monroe and Owen counties. For seven and a half years, their mission has been to service the medically uninsured. Typically, their patient base consisted of those who couldn’t afford health care. The standard for eligibility at VIM is a household income of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. However, after the introduction of the Healthy SEE IMMIGRATION, PAGE 6
MEN’S SOCCER
IU defeats Louisville in last non-conference matchup By Michael Hughes michhugh@indiana.edu @MichaelHughes94
In the first half Tuesday night, the Hoosiers were outshot; they gave up more corner kicks and were dominated in time of possession. IU was still tied with No. 22 Louisville, 1-1, at halftime, but Coach Todd Yeagley said it was one of the most average halves his team has played all season. At halftime, he told the
Hoosiers he wanted better play, and that’s what they gave him. Junior midfielder Tanner Thompson scored in the 48th minute, and the Hoosiers defended their way to a 2-1 win against the Cardinals on Tuesday night at Bill Armstrong Stadium. “We just had to move forward and not put our heads down,” Thompson said. “We came in at halftime, regrouped and came out for the second half fired
up. We got an early goal which was huge and put them back on their heels.” IU scored the match’s opening goal early in the first half. Thompson sent a corner kick across the goal where the ball was met by sophomore defender Grant Lillard, who headed back across goal to junior defender Billy McConnell. He then headed the ball home. The goal was the first of SEE IUMS, PAGE 6