The Washington Post - 21.10.2019

B2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 , 2019

shares of undergraduate women

who reported being victims of

nonconsensual sexual contact

were Georgetown University (31.6

percent) and the University of

Southern California (31 percent).

Georgetown was the lone par-

ticipant that is not an AAU mem-

ber.

Georgetown President John J.

DeGioia said in a statement that

awareness is growing of what the

university does to help victims of

sexual misconduct.

More students are reporting

incidents, he said.

“While this upward trend is

encouraging, the numbers show

that the majority of students still

do not seek University assistance

after a sexual assault,” DeGioia

said. “These trends are consistent

with the findings across the AAU

schools as a whole, and they high-

light the importance of increasing

trust in university resources, pro-

cesses and procedures.”

DeGioia added: “The survey

findings underscore that, as a

community, we have significant

work to do in order to achieve a

campus environment free from

sexual misconduct.”

As USC released its results, uni-

versity officials said in a state-

ment they were “committed to

addressing this issue head-on in

our efforts to build a community

that is safe and protects our well-

being.... The survey results clear-

ly show the need for ongoing work

to strengthen the prevention and

intervention efforts already un-

derway, and to provide additional

support for those impacted.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

BY NICK ANDERSON

AND SUSAN SVRLUGA

Last week, a group of major
research universities published
its second groundbreaking study
on the scope of sexual assault and
misconduct on campuses and
how students perceive the re-
sponse to the problem.
In 2015, the Association of
American Universities collected
data from more than 150,000 stu-
dents at 27 schools in a confiden-
tial online survey that was at the
time the largest of its kind. This

year, the AAU heard from more
than 180,000 students at 33
schools.
Overall, the latest findings con-
firm anew that a significant share
of college students experience
sexual violence and sexually ha-
rassing behavior.
About a quarter of undergradu-
ate women at the schools said
they had endured nonconsensual
sexual contact imposed through
force or at a time when they were
unable to consent. Nearly 13 per-
cent said they experienced inci-
dents involving sexual penetra-
tion without consent. Others ex-
perienced sexual touching with-
out consent, including kissing
and groping.
Each participating school re-
ceived a report on its campus
climate. The Washington Post an-
alyzed 32 of the reports for what
they say about prevalence of sex-
ual violence and student percep-
tions of how universities deal with
the issue. (The University of Flori-
da’s report was not available as of
late last week.)
The schools with the highest

Sexual violence patterns

Two charts show how sexual violence affects university students. Below are percentages of women

who say they have experienced nonconsensual sexual touching, penetration and (a combined

category) sexual contact — through force or inability to consent — since entering school.

Undergraduate

women

TouchingPenetrationSexual contact

Boston U. 17.8 11.1 23.7

Brown 18.1 11.6 24.5

Caltech 10.5 5.9 14.3

Carnegie Mellon 13.8 10.1 18.6

Case Western Reserve 18.5 10.4 23.6

Georgetown 24.5 15.0 31.6

Harvard 19.6 10.2 24.0

Iowa State 17.3 11.3 22.8

Johns Hopkins 17.4 11.1 23.7

MIT 14.1 8.1 18.4

Northwestern 17.5 11.6 22.6

Ohio State 19.0 12.4 24.9

Rice 12.9 8.2 17.7

Stanford 19.0 9.6 23.8

Texas A&M 19.6 14.1 27.0

U. of Arizona 17.9 12.2 23.8

U. of Chicago 16.1 10.4 21.8

U. of Kansas 18.9 14.9 26.0

U. of Michigan 20.4 12.4 26.9

U. of Minnesota 19.1 12.7 25.6

U. of Missouri 19.2 13.7 26.6

U. of N. Carolina 21.5 15.9 29.5

U. of Oregon 14.7 10.7 20.8

U. of Pennsylvania 20.2 12.2 25.9

U. of Pittsburgh 20.2 13.4 26.9

U. of Rochester 17.3 9.7 22.3

U. of Southern Calif. 24.6 14.9 31.0

U. of Virginia 19.0 11.9 25.5

U. of Wisconsin 20.9 11.0 26.1

Vanderbilt 20.3 13.3 26.9

Washington in St. Louis 20.6 15.1 27.0

Yale 22.3 12.1 28.4

All 33 schools 19.6 12.8 25.9

Female graduate

and professional

students

TouchingPenetrationSexual contact

Boston U. 5.7 2.5 7.4

Brown 6.8 4.5 9.5

Caltech 3.5 6.3 7.8

Carnegie Mellon 4.3 2.4 5.8

Case Western Reserve 5.5 3.8 8.3

Georgetown 4.7 3.0 6.9

Harvard 6.0 3.4 8.0

Iowa State 6.0 4.7 9.0

Johns Hopkins 4.3 2.8 6.4

MIT 6.0 3.3 8.3

Northwestern 3.6 2.3 4.9

Ohio State 9.9 6.8 13.3

Rice 3.2 2.2 5.2

Stanford 6.8 3.4 9.1

Texas A&M 12.6 9.1 17.6

U. of Arizona 9.5 8.2 14.2

U. of Chicago 4.9 3.5 7.0

U. of Kansas 6.5 5.8 10.5

U. of Michigan 8.1 4.9 11.0

U. of Minnesota 6.0 3.6 8.2

U. of Missouri 9.1 6.9 12.4

U. of N. Carolina 8.1 6.5 12.1

U. of Oregon 6.9 5.2 9.8

U. of Pennsylvania 5.5 2.8 7.5

U. of Pittsburgh 7.7 5.1 10.8

U. of Rochester 4.9 3.5 7.4

U. of Southern Calif. 5.6 3.1 6.9

U. of Virginia 6.1 5.2 10.0

U. of Wisconsin 9.4 6.6 13.1

Vanderbilt 4.6 3.6 6.6

Washington in St. Louis 6.5 3.8 9.3

Yale 7.5 3.6 9.7

All 33 schools 6.9 4.6 9.7

Trust in universities

This chart shows the percentage of

undergraduates who say it is very or extremely

likely the university will take a report of sexual

assault or other misconduct seriously.

Results from the Association of American Universities study of sexual misconduct

Note: Data for University of Florida, a survey participant, was unavailable.

Sources: Westat reports from AAU survey on sexual assault and misconduct.

Women Men

Boston U. 47.0 68.2

Brown 57.0 77.1

Caltech 69.7 75.1

Carnegie Mellon 58.6 78.4

Case Western Reserve 62.3 80.6

Georgetown 35.8 59.8

Harvard 49.3 74.7

Iowa State 66.9 83.8

Johns Hopkins 31.6 57.2

MIT 68.4 84.2

Northwestern 50.0 71.7

Ohio State 55.6 74.8

Rice 70.4 80.9

Stanford 48.1 70.7

Texas A&M 55.4 79.6

U. of Arizona 54.8 70.1

U. of Chicago 49.6 66.4

U. of Kansas 55.6 73.5

U. of Michigan 55.1 79.8

U. of Minnesota 50.6 74.1

U. of Missouri 56.1 74.5

U. of N. Carolina 33.1 57.2

U. of Oregon 59.0 71.6

U. of Pennsylvania 51.2 73.5

U. of Pittsburgh 55.2 72.2

U. of Rochester 53.9 69.2

U. of Southern Calif. 38.6 60.5

U. of Virginia 60.7 81.9

U. of Wisconsin 58.7 77.8

Vanderbilt 61.3 77.0

Washington in St. Louis 38.1 61.3

Yale 52.2 75.8

All 33 schools 53.0 74.2

do. Washington-Liberty High in

Arlington, Va., — like Shaker

Heights — is in an affluent and

diverse district. Yet its AP and IB

test participation rate is nearly

twice as high. That is because

while at Shaker Heights all

students are told they may take

AP or IB, at Washington-Liberty

they are told they must take at

least one of those courses and

tests.

Shaker Heights

administrators seem headed in

that direction. They agree

students learn much even if they

fail the IB or AP exam. Marla

Robinson, the district’s chief

academic officer, said, “The

exposure to rigor benefits

students, even those who

struggle.” That does not appear

to be a majority view in America,

but times are changing, even at a

101-year-old school like Shaker

Heights.

[email protected]

MAC Scholars will celebrate

their 30th anniversary next year,

with the program now reaching

third grade.

Eric Juli, principal of Shaker

Heights High, said teacher

recommendations and test

scores — which tend to limit AP

and IB participation — still

influence course selections, but

he also pointed to summer and

lunchtime programs that

support African American

students who take AP or IB

classes. IB has focused on raising

the level of learning in all grades.

John Moore, the district IB

coordinator, said Shaker Heights

was one of only eight districts in

North America to have IB

available for all students, from

pre-K through 12th grade.

Participation by students of color

in the IB diploma program,

which requires a daunting 4,000-

word essay, is also increasing.

There is more the school can

Heights on my list: Wellesley

High School, in Massachusetts, 7

percent; Deerfield High, in

Illinois, 4 percent; Piedmont

High, in California, 1 percent;

Blue Valley High, in Kansas, 4

percent: Harrison High, in

Georgia, 8 percent; and Medfield

High, in Massachusetts, 6

percent.

Shaker Heights has been

working on ways to increase

college-level course and test

participation for a long time.

When I visited the school in 1997,

I encountered the Minority

Achievement Committee (MAC)

Scholars program. It was run by

black juniors and seniors with

good academic records. Each

picked a ninth-grader to

introduce to the social

advantages of hard work and

good grades. There were special

outings and a once-a-month

meeting with boys in coats and

ties and girls in dresses. The

well-off schools oppose letting

average students into such

courses for fear that will put too

much stress on those adolescents

or diminish the level of

instruction. Wiser parents and

teachers, such as those at Shaker

Heights, understand that AP and

IB exams can’t be dumbed down

because they are written and

graded by independent experts,

and average students do better in

college having taken AP or IB

even if they fail the final exams.

There are many public schools

that are more affluent than

Shaker Heights, yet have

significantly lower AP and IB test

participation rates because of

that fear of letting in B and C

students. About 30 percent of

Shaker Heights students are

from low-income families. Here

are the percentages of students

from low-income families at a

sampling of schools that rank

significantly below Shaker

the country.

Even though it is hard to

motivate teenagers to tackle

tough courses, the numbers

suggest Shaker Heights has done

a good job challenging even

average kids.

I compile an annual list called

the Challenge Index. It ranks

high schools that have the

greatest participation in college-

level exams such as AP and IB. I

take the total number of those

exams completed by all students

at each school and divide it by

the number of graduating

seniors. On my 2019 list, Shaker

Heights has an index ratio of

3.214, in the top 3 percent of U.S.

public schools.

Some people shrug off that

success as a byproduct of the

large number of well-educated

and affluent families in Shaker

Heights, historically both black

and white. They don’t know that

many parents and teachers at

The Washington
Post’s Oct. 11 story
on Shaker Heights
High by national
education writer
Laura Meckler is
one of the finest
explorations of a
school in crisis I
have ever read. It details the
effort by the school to get more
black students into college level
Advanced Placement and
International Baccalaureate
courses and the anguish that
erupted when a black student
and her mother alleged bullying
by a white AP English teacher.
I can add nothing to Meckler’s
deep dive into the history of
racial diversity and academic
excellence at that venerable
suburban Cleveland school,
which Meckler attended. But I
can show how Shaker Heights’
campaign to improve AP and IB
access compares with the rest of

education

Renowned school in Ohio tests the limits of participation in elite classes

Jay
Mathews

Groundbreaking study

confirms sexual violence

still pervades colleges

“As a community, we have significant

work to do in order to achieve a

campus environment free from

sexual misconduct.”

John J. DeGioia, President of Georgetown University

(202) 816-8845

(703) 682-2838

(301) 736-7756