Excerpt: "Nearly 15% of female undergraduates at the University of Texas at Austin reported having been raped, according to a survey released by officials at the 50,000-student campus on Friday."
University of Texas football game. (photo: Pinterest)
25 March 17
College president says findings ‘deeply troubling to our community’
early 15% of female undergraduates at the University of Texas at Austin reported having been raped, according to a survey released by officials at the 50,000-student campus on Friday.
The University of Texas report was the result of an internet survey of more than 7,600 students and was funded by the school. Among the other findings were 28% of female undergraduates reporting unwanted sexual touching, and that 87% of all incidents occurred off-campus.
“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,” the University of Texas president, Gary Fenves, said in a statement.
The Texas survey data works out to about one in seven undergraduate women in Austin. Nationwide, about one in four college women reported unwanted sexual contact in a 2015 survey conducted by the Association of American Universities.
The flagship Texas campus in Austin is one of the largest in the US. It released Friday’s report ahead of schedule after a legislator this week revealed the 15% figure during a hearing in the Texas Capitol.
The survey comes at a time when another Texas university, Baylor, and state lawmakers are facing a sexual assault scandal involving football players at the country’s largest Baptist university.
The Baylor scandal, which has engulfed the university for the past two years, has prompted several bills aimed at increasing reporting and reducing sexual assaults on campus.
Baylor officials have acknowledged at least 17 women reported having been raped by 19 football players since 2011. Lawsuits against the school put the number of alleged sexual assaults at more than 50 over a four-year period.
The scandal led to the firing of the football coach Art Briles and the university president, Ken Starr, stepping down.
A Baylor spokeswoman did not immediately return a phone call or email from the Associated Press asking if the university had conducted a similar survey.
The University of Texas was also part of the 2015 national survey that found that 18.5% of female undergraduates on the Austin campus were the victims of sexual assault.
Researchers said that although the new numbers closely tracked the previous findings, the two surveys were conducted differently.
