Abstract: United States Colleges' and Universities' Sexual Assault Policies and Consent Definitions: A Nationally Representative Investigation (Society for Social Work and Research 21st Annual Conference - Ensure Healthy Development for all Youth)

Schedule:

Sunday, January 15, 2017: 12:30 PM

La Galeries 4 (New Orleans Marriott)

* noted as presenting author

Laurie M. Graham, MSW, Doctoral Student, Royster Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Erin M. Magee, MSW, MPH, Contractor, RTI International, Durham, NC

Sarah Treves-Kagan, MPH, Royster Fellow, Doctoral Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Stephanie M. DeLong, MPH, Doctoral Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Olivia S. Ashley, DrPH, Senior Public Health Scientist, Director, RTI International, Durham, NC

Rebecca J. Macy, PhD, L. Richardson Preyer Distinguished Chair and Professor for Strengthening Families, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Sandra L. Martin, PhD, Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Kathryn E. Moracco, PhD, Research Associate Professor, MPH Program Director, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

J. Michael Bowling, PhD, Research Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Background: Sexual assault (SA) on college and university campuses is a pervasive problem with detrimental consequences. Campus SA policies play a significant role in setting clear community conduct standards and transparent adjudication procedures. These policies are rapidly changing as colleges and universities are faced with increasing government and public scrutiny for failing to adequately prevent SA, respond to SA allegations, and make SA information accessible. Little research has been conducted on campus SA policies, including how schools define sexual consent. Thus, we sought to assess SA policy and consent definition prevalence on college and university websites, explore whether the presence of policies and consent definitions differed by school characteristics, and examine consent definition content from a random subsample of schools.

Methods: We systematically reviewed college and university websites using a disproportionate, stratified, random sample of 4-year, U.S. colleges and universities that received Title IV funding, granted undergraduate degrees, and offered on-campus classes during 2014-2015 (n = 995). We assessed policy and consent definition prevalence and associations with school characteristics (i.e., geographic region, public/private status, percent female student body, historically black college and university status, tribal institution status, and size). We conducted univariate and bivariate analyses using survey analytical methods to account for the stratified weighted sample design. We performed directed qualitative content analysis on a randomly selected subsample (n = 100) of consent definitions, oversampling tribal institutions.

Results: An estimated 95.1% of schools had a SA policy, and 89.8% defined consent on their website. Public schools and schools with a student population of over 5,000 were more likely to have a policy and a consent definition compared to private and smaller schools, respectively. Schools with a minority of female students were less likely than those with a higher percentage of female students to have SA policies and consent definitions. Almost 40% of majority male schools did not have a consent definition. Tribal institutions were less likely to have a SA policy than non-tribal institutions. Further, consent definitions varied considerably in their definitional detail and comprehensiveness. Identified themes included: inability to consent, active signs of consent, circumvention of non-consent, communication, history and nature of the relationship, and the revocable nature of consent.

Implications: The provision of increased federal government guidance on Title IX compliance has caused rapid change in college and university SA policies and consent definitions. Nonetheless, SA remains a significant social justice concern and well deserving of attention by social workers. Specifically, our findings suggest small schools, private schools, tribal institutions, and those with majority male student populations may benefit from increasing the presence of SA policies and consent definitions on their websites. Additionally, we will discuss the implications of a lack of common language and understanding of consent across universities and offer recommendations for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to help address these issues.