Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault and harassment in detail.

result ISSUED Last Monday, the Higher Education Sexual Misconduct and Awareness (HESMA) survey found that most sexual assaults reported at Stanford occur in student dormitories and are committed by other students.

The numbers are “alarming,” university president Jon Levin ’94 said in an interview with The Daily.

“It’s something we can and should do better about,” Levin said. “I think the University has an opportunity, from the moment the students arrive … to have an effective Title IX process.”

The survey also found that most non-consensual sex happens when both parties are under the influence of alcohol. Female undergraduates and students who identified as gender nonbinary, transsexual, questioning, and/or self-identifying (GNTQSI) reported the highest amounts of sexual assault, harassment, intimate partner violence (IPV), and stalking. Compared to other schools that distributed the survey, roughly the same proportion of Stanford students reported experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact.

The report provides insight into the prevalence of sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual harassment behaviors at the university. It also details Stanford students’ views on sexual assault and other misconduct at the university, including their self-described knowledge of Stanford. Report system and resources.

The survey was conducted between April 30 and May 30 by Westa private health, education and social science research firm. Of the 10 participating schools, Stanford had the highest response rate at 43 percent of undergraduate and graduate students, with a total of 7,583 responses. As an incentive, the University offered $25 to all students who completed the survey.

COVID-19 Pandemic Makes 2024 Survey Cohort Incomparable to 2019

In October 2019similar data were collected by the Association of American Universities (AAU) Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct. The AAU discontinued the all-institution coordination service for this survey, so the University sought to find a similar tool for the 2024 survey.

The 2024 Westat survey differs from the 2019 AAU survey with more options for questions about gender identity, race and ethnicity.

Differences in students’ social experiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic LIMITS the ability to compare data from 2019 and 2024, according to Stanford’s results site. While the 2019 cohort of students observed a standard college social experience, the 2024 cohort of juniors and seniors engaged in distance learning for at least a year, and later, social distancing policies that limited socializing. Because of the drastic differences in experience, distance learning students may contribute to a less extreme number of sexual assaults and harassment on campus.

Sexual assault and harassment in most groups show a decrease compared to 2019

Allowing for the inability to directly compare the 2019 and 2024 surveys due to the pandemic, the rate of non-consensual physical contact or inability to consent for undergraduate women dropped from 23.8% in 2019 to 18.4% in 2024 Graduate students also saw a drop from 9.1% to 6.6%, as did GNTQSI students from 21.7% to 15.5%. There were no statistically significant changes in these data for male students.

Ongoing non-consensual coercive or non-consensual sexual contact for undergraduate women decreased by 6.3% (18.1% to 11.8%). There was no statistically significant change for graduate students, male students, or GNTQSI students.

There was a statistically significant decrease from 10.4% in 2019 to 8.4% in the prevalence of non-consensual sexual contact (sexual penetration or touching) by physical force or inability to consent since entering the school for female undergraduates. There was also a significant decrease for graduate students from 3.0% to 2.2%, with no change for male students or GNTQSI students.

Ongoing coercive or nonconsensual sexual intercourse without active voluntary consent showed a 2.5% decrease for female undergraduates (8.2%–5.7%) and a 1.0% decrease for undergraduates male (2.2%-1.2%).

Harassment also showed a decrease from 37% to 31% for female undergraduates, as well as a decrease from 26.3% to 23.2% for female graduate students. GNTQSI students saw a 12.3% decrease (from 55% to 42.7%).

There was no change in IPV for females, but there was a statistically significant decrease for GNTQSI students (18.1%–9.4%) and male students (9.7%–6.4%).

There was no change in tracking female undergraduates, but it increased for male students from 2.4% in 2019 to 4.2% in 2014.

18% of female undergraduates report being sexually assaulted

The survey clearly defines sexual assault and harassment to collect data. Sexual assault can be either through penetration or sexual touching.

If a student answered “yes” that they had been sexually assaulted, the survey provided a follow-up question about how they were assaulted—whether physical force, inability to consent, coercion, or without voluntary consent. 18.4% of female undergraduates and 6.6% of male undergraduates reported being victims of non-consensual sexual contact (sexual penetration and/or touching) through physical force or inability to consent. Among graduate students, 6.6% of women and 2.2% of men reported nonconsensual contact. 18.1% of GNTQSI students and 12.8% of GNTQSI students answered “yes”.

8% of female undergraduates reported experiencing penetrative sexual assault, as did 2.6% of male undergraduates. 4.9% of women said the tactic was physical force, and 3.2% said there was an inability to consent, with 1.6% reporting both tactics. For undergraduate men, these figures were 1.3% and 1.0%.

Different definitions of sexual assault impact the results

One nuance of collecting sexual assault data is how different tactics affect the numbers. Although Westat usually considered physical force and inability to consent in their report, Stanford’s analysis it included all four tactics: physical force, inability to consent, coercion, and lack of active and ongoing voluntary consent. With these additional tactics, the numbers are higher for all groups in Stanford’s analysis. The data shows that 11.5 percent of undergraduate women and 3.2 percent of undergraduate men report experiencing penetrative sexual assault, according to Stanford’s analysis. Additionally, during their four years of undergraduate study, 32% of female undergraduates experience some type of non-consensual sexual contact, as do 36% of GNTQSI students and 10% of male undergraduates. In the same category we observe 11%, 24% and 4% for female graduates, GNTQSI students and men, respectively.

10.4% of GNTQSI undergraduate students report penetrative sexual assault

Along with the bachelor women – who are the group most at risk of sexual violence on campus nationally — a large number of attacks were reported by GNTSQI students. 10.4% of GNTQSI undergraduates experienced penetrative sexual assault (by physical force or inability to consent), with 5.7% reporting that the tactic was physical force only. 5.9% of GNTQSI graduate students reported sexual assault with penetration by physical force or inability to consent, with 2.5% reporting that the tactic was only physical force.

5.6% of heterosexual students – compared to 15.9% of non-heterosexual students – reported non-consensual sexual contact through physical force or inability to consent. More non-heterosexual students also reported a lack of active and ongoing voluntary consent compared to heterosexual students.

Students who reported a disability reported three times (16.6%) the amount of nonconsensual sexual contact than students without a disability (5.0%) through physical force or inability to consent.

More than 40% of Stanford students report experiencing sexual harassment

The survey defined “sexually harassing behaviors” as instances where, for example, “someone makes sexual remarks or tells sexual jokes or stories that are offensive” or “makes inappropriate offensive comments about your or someone else’s body, appearance, or sexual activities.” These behaviors become sexual harassment when students report that they were affected in at least one of three ways: interfering with the victim’s academic or professional performance, limiting the victim’s ability to participate in the academic program, or creating a hostile environment.

40.4% of all students reported experiencing at least one type of bullying behavior since entering university. If a student answered yes, the survey asked a follow-up question about how those behaviors affected the student’s life. 19.6% of students answered that the behavior affected them in at least one way, that is, they experienced sexual harassment in the combination of behavior and tactics.

Intimate partner violence and stalking

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a form of harassment by a partner that involves controlling behaviors, threats of harm, or actual force. Of the 68.5% of Stanford students who reported being in a relationship, 7.2% reported experiencing at least one type of IPV. HESMA listed a specific definition for IPV in the survey, asking students if they had received “unwanted messages, images, or videos,” been “spyed on, watched, or followed in person,” and more. 14.3% of students indicated that they had experienced at least one form of stalking.

Knowledge of the school’s sexual assault policies and procedures

Students feel less knowledgeable about the reporting process and policies in 2024 than in 2019. For female undergraduates, 29.4% said they were very or extremely knowledgeable in 2019, compared to 27.1% in 2024.

About 28.9% of gender-conforming students and alumni feel they are very or extremely knowledgeable about Stanford’s sexual assault policies and procedures. 24.2% of GNTQSI students agreed, as did 37.0% of that graduating class. Notably, 24.5% of students reported being very or extremely knowledgeable about where to make a Title IX report, and only 15.6% reported being very or extremely knowledgeable about what happens after an incident was reported.

Student concerns about sexual assault and other misconduct at Stanford are on the decline

Women on campus showed an overall decrease in thinking that sexual assault and misconduct at Stanford was very or extremely problematic from 2019 to 2024, from 45.4 percent to 37.0 percent. For female graduates, the number dropped from 27.3% to 23.9%. An overwhelming 60.7 percent of GNTQSI students said sexual assault and misconduct at Stanford were very or extremely problematic in the 2024 survey.

Only 13.4% of students perceive that school officials are very or extremely concerned about their well-being.