Sexual Assaults on Oregon College Campuses a Rising Concern

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Nada Sewidan, GoLocalPDX Contributor

A sexual assault case in Oregon State University earlier this week has sparked concerns regarding the safety of college campuses in Oregon.

In a recent report conducted by AUU, Association of American Universities, 27 different universities across the nation and 150,000 students were surveyed on whether or not they had previously been sexually assaulted—nonconsensual sexual contact.

The survey revealed that the incidence of sexual assaults on campus is 1 in 5, 23 percent, among the female student body during their undergraduate years. However, AUU also revealed data according to each college. According to the survey, the percentage of University of Oregon sexual assault cases are higher than the overall average. An estimated 24 percent of women from the University of Oregon reported being assaulted on campus, and these statistics do not take into account the amount of non-reported sexual cases.

“The fact that the incidence of sexual violence at the University of Oregon is for most groups roughly comparable to other AAU universities makes the news from this survey no more acceptable,” said Robin Holmes, Oregon’s vice president for student life.

A Rising Concern

Sexual assault cases on college campuses in Oregon are continually rising.

According to the Oregon State University Clery report, a mandatory annual report recording crimes statistics on campus, sexual assault cases have risen over the past three years and continues to do so. Between 2011 and 2013, the number of reported cases doubled.

Similarly, in Portland State University, sexual assault increased from 8 reported cases in 2011 to 12 reported cases in 2013.

Factors Affecting Rising Sexual Offense Cases

According to the AUU survey, 20 percent of students reported that sexual assault has become extremely problematic on their own campus. It begs the question, why does sexual assault remain a large concern on college campus despite increased safety measures and what factors contribute to the rise of sexual offenses from a year to year basis?

A previous Portland State University Student and a current NCNM, Portland’s National College of Natural Medicine, student Rosalia Juarez, explained that preparedness and education has a lot to do with sexual assault prevention.

The AUU survey revealed that among bystanders of sexual assault incidences, 49.5 percent reported that they did nothing, while 23.3 percent said they weren’t sure what to do.

Juarez noted that Portland State University began offering a module course that trains students on what to do in case of sexual assault. The module also educates its users on how to deal with the same issue if you are a witness to the assault and explained that sexual harassment seminars are an important part of campus safety.

“PSU only felt motivated to do that because other universities in Oregon came under fire for their inaction in sexual harassment reports,” Juarez said.

“Educating on sexual harassment should be an essential aspect of new student orientation," she suggested.

Another factor affecting the rising trend of sexual assault cases is the campus police dept. itself.

Lack of sufficient security in relation to campus size can be a factor contributing to higher sexual assault rates. Additionally, lack of trust and insecurity in the investigation process can deter students from speaking up about their sexual assault incidence.

In the survey, out of the students asked if they believed that campus police would conduct a fair investigation, only 37.4 percent said that it was likely that they would.

Incorporating a sexual assault seminar during orientation and adding more campus security in proportion to the student body can be possible solutions to reducing sexual assault cases on college campuses.

Related Slideshow: Slideshow: Sexual Assault Reporting at Oregon Universities

Oregon Universities are failing to report sexual assaults occurring on campuses, a GoLocalPDX analysis of data provided by all the public universities found.

A comparison of sexual assault cases reported by Oreogn’s three largest campuses as required by the federal Jeanne Clery Act with numbers provided from university affiliated and independent women’s resource and support services centers found a massive disparity between the two.

The numbers at PSU are of visits by students and not individual cases so the numbers could reflect some duplication, officials said.