A pair of Georgia colleges declined to participate in a national survey on campus sexual violence in which nearly a quarter of undergraduate women responding said they have been sexually assaulted.
Georgia Tech and Emory University are members of the Association of American Universities, which conducted the study. They were not among the 27 universities that took part. Both cited their participation in other, local efforts to measure the problem.
Georgia Tech is part of an upcoming campus climate survey including all 30 in schools in the state’s public university system, which is supposed to be completed on all campuses by March 2016. The system plans climate surveys at each campus every two years.
Emory did its own survey in April, with questions tailored to provide data specific to its campus, school officials said. A report and recommendations based on the survey data are expected in the next few months. Emory has the most reports of sexual assaults among Georgia colleges, but has said that is a result of aggressive outreach to encourage victims to come forward.
Campus sexual assaults have been in the national spotlight, with the White House urging campuses to do more to keep students safe.
The AAU study queried about 150,000 students at more than two dozen universities. All 60 AAU member schools were invited to participate in its survey.
A letter sent to university presidents noted it would cost each institution about $85,000 to participate.
Of all student respondents, nearly 12 percent said they had experienced “nonconsensual sexual contact by physical force, threats of physical force or incapacitation since they enrolled.” For undergraduate females, that number rose to 23.1 percent.
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