Ohio University has done it again. They managed to take the one decent thing they did last year, The Campus Climate Survey, and completely mess it up. This report has a lot of important information about sexual assault on campus and needs to be taken seriously. These numbers can back up claims about a very real problem that exists here on campus.
According to Ohio University’s website there are about 20,000 people on this campus and 6.9 percent responded to the survey. That means 1,380 students responded to this survey. Of those 1,380 students, “82 percent indicated that they had experienced some kind of sexual misconduct while at Ohio University." That means of those 1,380 students, 1,131 of them experienced sexual misconduct, including offenses from verbal harassment all the way to rape. 74 percent, or 1,021 students, experienced sexual harassment from other students.
“With regard to sexual assault victimization, of the 1,035 Ohio University women completing the survey, 29 percent reported being victimized, with 13 percent of them indicating they were raped during their time as a student," the report said. That means 300 of those women reported being victimized and 134 of those women are saying that they were raped during their stay. These numbers also don’t include the sexual misconduct grad students experience from the staff and faculty.
When comparing the meager sample size of students that took the survey to the number of students enrolled, you may not think the number of assaulted reported in the survey is a lot. However, there are three things to consider. First, if more students took the survey, the percentage of students who have been sexually assaulted might go down, but the number of people in general who have been victimized will go up. Second, the actual numbers should be zero. Third, this brings to mind that the amount of people asked to leave the university for sexually assaulting someone is currently around zero. That is a problem.
At a meeting Embody Consent had with Dr. Jenny Hall-Jones at the beginning of the semester, it was decided that there is 50 percent accountability held for those who are accused of assault. This means that of the 30 reported sexual assaults (this number just includes rape and fondling) only about 15 people were “held accountable”. This means 15 people should have been expelled or legally punished. I cannot say with confidence that the university handled those 15 situations in that way.
So what is accountability?
Ohio University seems to have issues with accountability. Let’s take, for instance, the day that this information was put out. Nov. 8, while the United States of America was focused on one thing and one thing only, they released the results of this survey. When the United States was actively picking a man accused of rape to be president, Ohio University was proving just how active their hand in rape culture can be. By trying to sweep the issue under the rug and not opening up conversation and welcoming critiques they’re putting their students in danger.
So, since the administration seems to take even less accountability for themselves than they do for the rapists on campus, it’s up to us to talk facts and put pressure on them to do whatever it takes to have these conversations with us while they’re actually listening.
Sasha Gough is a member of Embody Consent, the Ohio University Chapter for FRC. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. How do you promote consent? Let Embody Consent know by emailing the club president, Claire Seid at cs350712@ohio.edu.
