It seems that Stanford University has a trust problem when it comes to sexual violence. Last year, Stanford rolled out a survey that asked students to report if they were ever sexually assaulted during their college career. This is a common move among schools in a recent effort by administrations to better understand the rising issue of sexual assault in schools.
However, Stanford earned the ire of students after publicizing its survey results—Students are accusing the school of manipulating the results to make it appear that students have not experienced as much sexual assault as expected, according to the Huffington Post.
In the survey results, Stanford reported that only 1.9 percent of survey respondents of all genders had been sexually assaulted at the school. This seems like an incredibly small percentage, especially given the shocking survey last year that found 25 percent of college women had experienced “nonconsensual sexual contact,” but Stanford used a severely limited definition of “sexual assault.” In order to fit the definition, the victim either had to be incapacitated, or threatened with force or violence. Lack of consent alone was not enough to qualify as “sexual assault” for the purposes of the survey.
It’s safe to say that students are NOT okay with these survey results. More than 90 percent of Stanford students voted for a referendum that requests Stanford oversee a new survey that more fairly depicts its campus climate. However, the referendum is symbolic only—It doesn’t mean that the Stanford administration actually has to do anything. In fact, Stanford plans to continue using the same definition of sexual assault in its 2018 campus climate survey. The Stanford student senator who is leading the call for action, Matthew Cohen, told the Huffington Post, “While the school may continue to ignore the overwhelming support for a new survey, this campaign is not over.”