MIT Sexual Assault Survey: 1 In 6 Female Undergraduates Abused On Campus

The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology have released the results of an extensive survey that they conducted regarding the attitudes of their students when it comes to sexual assault on campus, and the results have proved to be rather startling for all of the wrong reasons.

According to the figures [via PBS] one in six female undergraduate students have revealed that they have been sexually assaulted while on the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Less than 5 percent of these people didn’t report the incidents to either the school or authorities.

You can peruse a table of the survey’s figures below.

Comprehensive @MIT Survey Reveals A Serious On-Campus Sexual Assault Problem http://t.co/KaoHrFw1Pupic.twitter.com/Q0van574SP

— WGBH News OnCampus (@OnCampusWGBH) October 27, 2014

This is the first poll of its kind to have been created by MIT. Close to 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students were posed a series of questions on the subject last spring. 35 percent of these people decided to respond, which means that around 3,850 people provided data.

In response to these figures, Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart has admitted that MIT has a serious problem with this issue and she has noted that she has already begun to look for solutions.

“What we find from this survey is that we need more education in our community, and that’s exactly what we’re positioning ourselves to do.”

Barnhart went on to confess that one of the most alarming points to have been discovered was that students seemed to be genuinely confused about what is considered sexual assault.

“There’s a gap between the percentage of students who say that they’ve been sexually assaulted and the number of students that by answering the behavioural questions indicate that they’ve been sexually assaulted.”

According to more than half of the people who responded to the survey, “rape and sexual assault can happen unintentionally, especially if alcohol is involved.” Virtually everyone involved did declare that it is important to get consent from the other party before sex.

Another alarming detail to have emanated from the survey was that 15 percent of female undergraduate believe that “a person who is sexually assaulted or raped while drunk is at least somewhat responsible for putting themselves in that position.” However, 25 percent of male undergraduates said the same.

The piece from the Massachesetts Institute of Technology also asked a variety of questions on students’ views and attitudes on sexual assault, as well as their own experience with sexual misconduct, and how they felt about intervention from bystanders.

[Image via Press TV]