Latest Figures on Sexual Misconduct: ‘Too Many’ Students Are Victims

About 16 percent of the 3,667 students who responded to a University survey on sexual misconduct said they had experienced some form of inappropriate sexual behavior during the 2016–17 school year. Two percent reported they had been raped.

The findings are part of the University’s “We Speak” survey on sexual misconduct, which was conducted in the spring for the third consecutive year.

“That our findings are similar to those from surveys at other campuses doesn’t make them less troubling,” said Vice Provost Michele Minter. While percentages of misconduct in several areas were lower than in past surveys, she said, the figures “still show that too many of our students have been victims of sexual misconduct” and “underscore the sustained need” to address the issue.

Fewer students reported experiencing inappropriate sexual behavior and rape on campus in this year’s survey than in 2014-15 — that year, 20 percent said they had experienced some form of sexual misconduct and 8 percent reported being raped. 

This year’s results, which were released Nov. 9, found that undergraduate women were the most likely (27 percent of respondents) to experience some form of sexual misconduct, which includes sexual harassment, stalking, and unwanted sexual contact. By comparison, 16 percent of graduate women reported experiencing sexual misconduct, along with 12 percent of undergraduate men and 5 percent of graduate men. 

Nine percent of undergraduate women and 8 percent of graduate women said they had experienced sexual harassment. Of the graduate students who reported experiencing sexual harassment, 18 percent said it had taken place in their work environment. 

Complete survey results can be found at http://bit.ly/wespeak17.

During the 2016–17 academic year, 18 cases were adjudicated under Princeton’s sex-discrimination and sexual-misconduct policy. In the 13 cases in which respondents were found responsible for sexual misconduct, penalties ranged from an employee being placed on probation for sexual harassment to the expulsion of a student for intimate-relationship violence.