New Delhi: In the past year, dozens of colleges and universities have come under fire for allegedly sweeping sexual assaults under the rug and mistreating students who reported sexual violence. From lawsuits filed by students to investigations by the federal government, the cases have brought national attention to the issue of sexual violence on college campuses — and have prompted criticism of the way colleges respond to sexual assault cases.
Amidst this tumultuous climate, a recent Daily Pennsylvanian poll of Penn undergraduates shows that students are, in general, broadly under-informed when it comes to the resources offered on campus, despite the fact that knowing a victim of sexual assault at Penn is relatively common. The criticism of other schools’ administrations has been sharp, but here, most students do not have strong opinions about the way Penn handles sexual assault, though most say the University should devote more resources to address the issue.
The poll was conducted for a week-and-a-half-long period at the end of September and included 974 responses, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Overall, the data show that, in many regards, Penn is not immune to the trends in United States society. At the same time, they provide insight into the particulars of the culture at a school that has been mostly unscathed by the wave of resentment against colleges for how they address sexual assault.
Bureau Report
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