Campus sexual assault prevention programs could do more to prevent violence, even after a decade-long federal mandate

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Heather Hensman Kettrey, Clemson University and Martie Thompson, Appalachian State University

(THE CONVERSATION) Ten years after a federal law required colleges and universities to offer sexual assault prevention programming to students, only about half of them are doing it.

Without a national database containing standardized measures of campus sexual assault over time, it is difficult to determine whether campus sexual assault has decreased since this prevention programming requirement went into effect. One review of campus climate surveys, designed to measure various forms of sexual misconduct at colleges and universities, revealed differences in the ways that schools measure assault.

Scope and consequences of campus sexual assault

A large-scale 2019 campus climate survey of students across 33 U.S. campuses indicated that 1 in 5 women experienced some form of sexual assault after entering college. Both women and nonbinary students, those whose gender may not align...