The vast majority of IUPUC students don’t feel sexual misconduct is a problem on the Columbus campus.
That summary is among results from IUPUC’s first online climate survey on sexual assault, conducted a year ago.
Four percent of undergraduate men and 2 percent of undergraduate women reported thinking that sexual misconduct is a problem at the Columbus campus, the study said.
About 97 percent of the undergraduate survey participants reported they had not observed a situation that they believe was, or could have led to, a sexual assault, since becoming an IUPUC student, the study said.
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IUPUC has begun to review survey results and is working with Indiana University and community partners to address findings, IUPUC Vice Chancellor and Dean Reinhold Hill said.
“While the results for IUPUC itself are overwhelmingly positive, there is much work that needs to be done educating everyone on appropriate conduct and consent,” Hill said.
While overall the survey indicated that IUPUC students felt safe on the campus and that IUPUC staff and the university would take a report of sexual assault or violence seriously, some inconsistency was revealed on whether students knew where to file a report on campus, said Sandra Miles, IUPUC’s dean of students.
While IUPUC would prefer that all students would know where to file such a report, the survey showed that just over half of undergraduate men and women knew where to get immediate help.
That result indicates a need on the campus for students to become more aware of available services, with the job of increasing that awareness resting with IUPUC faculty and staff, Miles said.
“Beyond their physical safety, we are also working hard to create an environment where our students feel comfortable reaching out to faculty and staff to report and seek support in the event that they are the victims of any form of sexual or physical violence,” Miles said. “Additionally we are training our faculty and staff to be capable of receiving and referring such reports.”
IUPUC has developed a Compassionate Response team which has a dedicated group of faculty and staff members who are receiving voluntary training so campus officials can reach students where they are and respond appropriately, Miles said.
More than 280 students completed at least half the survey, which is about 19 percent of IUPUC’s student population, the university said. In all, more than 330 students completed some portion of the survey.
While all IU campuses distributed the survey, the results of each campus survey are being shared only with individual campuses and their communities, Miles said.
The results will be used to create programming and initiatives on campus, she said.
IUPUC, one of nine campuses that are part of the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault, has shared its survey results with that organization, Miles said, and will also share it with Ivy Tech Community College, Columbus, its neighbor on the Columbus Learning Center campus.
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IUPUC students, faculty and staff who are or become aware of a victim of any form of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or intimate partner violence are encouraged to contact Sandra Miles at 812-375-7525 or [email protected] as soon as possible.
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To view IUPUC’s climate survey on sexual assault on campus, visit:
iupuc.edu/campus-life/title-iv-initiatives/
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