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A recent survey at the University of Texas at Austin yielded some horrifying results: 15 percent of women undergraduates at the university reported having been raped in the 2015 academic year.
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Titled, "Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments," the survey stated that out of 28,000 students at 13 University of Texas institutions polled, 15 percent at UT Austin, 9 percent at UT Dallas and UT San Antonio, and 10 percent across all UT campuses reported being raped.
“The results of this survey of our students are of tremendous concern to me, and I know these findings are deeply troubling to every member of our community,” said the University of Texas president, Gary Fenves, in a statement to the Guardian.
According to Jezebel, one in seven women said they were “raped, either through force, threat of force, incapacitation or other forms of coercion such as lies and verbal pressure.” Twenty-eight percent of undergraduate women said they were victims of unwanted sexual touching, 12 percent said they experienced attempted rape, while 13 percent of graduate-level women experienced “crude sexual harassment perpetrated by a staff or faculty member” since they enrolled.
The 95-page report on UT's survey goes into painstaking detail about the kinds of assault that occur, the location of the assault, victims and perpetrators.
The survey also stated that a majority of these assaults were not reported. At UT Austin, 68 percent of students who experienced “interpersonal violence” didn’t tell anyone about it, and only 6 percent told a member of university staff. According to Mary Sue, over half of the perpetrators were fellow students, with 44 percent of the victims had a “close relationship” with their attacker.
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Among LGBTQ students, 43 percent of undergraduates and 41 percent of LGBTQ graduate students reported student-perpetrated sexual harassment.
The poll said to be the "nation's most comprehensive study on sexual assaults ever conducted in higher education," is “in line with national averages,” according to Fenves.
“I want survivors to report and know that their university cares about them — their experiences must be reported," said Fenves.
However, it remains unclear as to what concrete steps the University of Texas will take to address the issue.
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