Where Is the Data on Campus Sexual Assault?

A new campus climate survey of 10 U.S. universities, called the Higher Education Sexual Misconduct and Awareness survey, marked declines in sexual violence across all demographics. But experts are skeptical that those numbers indicate true improvements; they argue that the limited scope of the study underscores the need for standardized, national data. While a significant number of states have laws requiring colleges and universities to conduct climate surveys—institutionwide research into the prevalence and perceptions of sexual assault and harassment on campus—there was no federal mandate for such surveys until recently. Other organizations stepped in to try to fill the gap; in 2015 and 2019, for instance, the American Association of Universities administered the survey that became the HESMA on about 30 campuses.