MSU survey: Nearly 13% of female undergraduates sexually assaulted last year

EAST LANSING — Nearly 13% of female undergraduates at Michigan State University said they were sexually assaulted in the 2018-19 academic year, according to a survey released Thursday. 

More than 15,000 students, faculty and staff, nearly a quarter of the campus community, shared their experiences with sexual misconduct and relationship violence through the MSU Campus Climate Survey, giving the university a snapshot of a campus culture that concerns many students. 

"We've certainly had challenges in this area,” said MSU President Samuel Stanley Jr. “Way more than any university in the country."

The optional, campus-wide, online survey was launched in March.

"That was a very rocky time in our organizational history and the data bore that out," said Rebecca Campbell, professor of psychology and adviser to the president on RVSM issues

4.3% of undergraduate women said they were raped last year

The survey defined sexual assault as unwanted, non-consensual sexual contact. Sexual harassment or coerced sexual contact was not included.  

About 3.5% of undergraduate men, 3.7% of female graduate and professional students, and 1.5% of male graduate and professional students said they experienced sexual assault.

In 2015, RTI International, which conducted MSU's survey, conducted the Campus Climate Survey Validation Study at nine colleges and universities using a similar survey. About 10.3% of undergraduate women across the nine schools experienced sexual assault, which is "in range" of the 13% of MSU female undergraduates, according to the report. 

“Any number above zero is unacceptable," said Erin Graham, a professor in the MSU Department of History, whose courses include women's studies classes. "We should be working to get that number down to zero by investing resources needed to do so.”

She'd like to see more resources to address sexual violence, suggesting added women's studies courses, courses focused on gender and more conversations about gender and power. 

Women identifying as bisexual and asexual women reported the most sexual assaults among undergraduates at 20.3% and 25.3%. 

About 4.3% of undergraduate women and 1.3% of female graduate or professional students reported being raped last year. 

Sexual misconduct experiences also stretched to faculty and staff. 

Nearly 1 in 5 female faculty members reported work-related sexual harassment, experiences ranging from sexual remarks, jokes or stories that were insulting to the faculty member to someone staring, leering or making sexual gestures at them.

Male faculty and staff experienced sexual harassment too, including 9.3% of male faculty members.

Nearly 18% of female staff and 15.1% their male counterparts also reported being sexually harassed. 

The legacy of Larry Nassar

It was the case of former MSU doctor Larry Nassar, who sexually abused more than 500 women and girls, that put the problem of sexual assault at MSU on a national stage.

Though Nassar now sits in prison, the university continues to face backlash for what some students and faculty call a culture of sexual violence that persists at MSU. 

"They made it all about the Larry Nassar survivors, and it’s clear by this report that the culture is clear and more problematic than just a few people," said Louise Harder, a Nassar survivor.

Sexual violence was a problem at MSU before, during and after the Nassar case, Campbell said.

Harder said there's a concerning culture at MSU that Nassar's case helped shine a light on, and changing that culture is going to take new policies and making the sexual assault reporting process less painful for survivors. 

Not letting perpetrators back on campus would help, too, she said. 

"It hurts survivors and it hurts the community and I think it all leads to that culture," Harder said. "We need to turn that around." 

The survey will help in continuing efforts to determine the scope of the community's concerns, what is working and isn't working and will help leaders make stronger plans for helping the people who face these experiences, Campbell said. 

Lack of trust in university officials

The survey effort, led by the RVSM Expert Advisory Workgroup at MSU, was circulated specifically to hear about those experiences from students, faculty and staff, and weigh whether they trust the policies in place that were designed to protect and support them. 

On a scale of 0 to 100, students, faculty and staff scored awareness and fairness of sexual assault policies and resources at MSU at about 70. And more than 80% of them knew what services were available for people who experienced sexual misconduct.

That's good news for the university, Stanley said.

But there was bad news, too. 

There wasn't much confidence in upper-level university administrators. Survey takers scored their general perceptions of the highest university leadership at just above 50 out of 100. Female graduate and professional students scored a 46 average. 

"There is a lack of trust in the administration and certainly at Michigan State University," said Stanley, who was hired after the survey was completed.

It's going to take several steps to fix that, he said, including making sure words and plans turn into actions and communicating to the campus community that they are being done, letting the community know what administrators are doing, being willing to try things and willing to admit when things don't work.

"The more we engage students, the more we engage staff, the more trust we will get," Stanley said. "It's definitely earned." 

He said the information will be used as the university develops a strategic plan that he hopes will lead to a culture change.

"I think (the survey results) do show we need to be concerned about the culture at Michigan State," he said. 

The RVSM workgroup will host discussion hours with community members and campus organizations to talk about the survey results and ideas for changing the campus culture. The feedback will be used as university leaders construct a strategic plan for prevention work, policy updates and developing resources, according to the press release. 

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Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.