Data on sexual assault from the first 2 years of a comprehensive campus prevention program

Since 1991, student affairs personnel on one university campus have implemented a comprehensive sexual assault prevention program that includes educational initiatives, revision of policies and protocols, modification of judicial hearings, and collection of data about incidents of sexual assault. In the first 2 years of the program, 65 separate incidents were reported, providing the lar est single database yet reported by one campus. These incidents consisted of 43 rapes, 18 other sexual assaults, and 4 cases in which the nature of the incident was not indicated. Most of the assaults occurred on weekends, and slightly less than half of the incidents occurred on campus. In 25% of the on-campus assaults, the assailant used no identifiable form of pressure. Three quarters of the off-campus and seven eighths of the on-campus cases involved perpetrators who were known to the victims. In the on-campus situations, first-year students were found to be particularly vulnerable. Approximately one third of all victims were incapacitated because of alcohol consumption. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings are discussed, along with suggestions for prevention programming.