Penn State Offers Services And Programs
To Prevent Sexual Assault

January 21, 2000
University Park, Pa. – Penn State takes seriously the problems of sexual assault, and provides an extensive range of educational programs and services for all of its students, the Board of Trustees learned today (Jan. 21) in an informational report by Margaret Spear, director of University Health Services, and Sabrina Chapman, director of the Center for Women Students.

Spear described what is known about sexual assault at Penn State from the University’s confidential and anonymous reporting system. Between 1996 and 1999, about 100 people each year reported being sexually assaulted. Most of the victims over the last three years have been female, though nine were male victims. Most victims were in their first two years at the University Park campus with an average age of 19 and a half.

"The University’s data confirms national trends," noted Spear. "Most of the alleged assailants are acquaintances. More than 80 percent of the victims said they knew the assailant prior to the assault."

One study of sexual assault and rape on U.S. campuses, cited by Chapman, found that one out of four women college students had experienced an attempted sexual assault, and one out of eight had experienced a completed rape during her college years. The same study also found that 75 percent of the men and 55 percent of the women involved in an acquaintance rape were using alcohol or drugs.

Alcohol is also a significant factor in sexual assault at Penn State – in 70 percent of assaults, alcohol had been consumed by the victim, the assailant or both, according to Spear.

Penn State services for students who are victims of sexual assault or rape, include subsidized medical exams, counseling, and advocacy. At University Park, the Center for Women Students provides on-campus advocacy services while staff at most campuses work with off-campus rape victim advocacy groups.

Spear noted that a fairly low percentage of victims chose to report these incidents to law enforcement officials – between 1 and 8 percent report them to campus police, about 16 percent to local law enforcement agencies and less than 5 percent to on-campus Judicial Affairs officers. Although few victims reported these crimes, more than two-thirds used campus health services, counseling or both.

According to Chapman, women students who are victims of sexual assault and rape are at increased risk of experiencing eating disorders, self-imposed isolation, suicidal behaviors, and academic failure. Other consequences include unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and severe emotional distress.

Although Penn State’s educational programming provides information about the healing process and ways to help rape victims, most of the University’s efforts focus on prevention.

"Our educational programs have one common goal – to enable students to make well-informed decisions about their lives and their interactions with one another," said Chapman. "We are committed to early educational intervention in large part because of the risk factors existing for first-semester, 18-year-old women students."

Many of these programs involve collaboration among Student Affairs units, academic departments and student organizations, including orientation programs; peer programs for entering students, fraternity and sorority members and residence halls students; self-defense classes for women at University Park; academic courses; and faculty and staff development workshops.

**klt**

Contact: Karen Trimbath, Dept. of Public Information, at (814) 865-7517 or at

For more information on Penn State’s sexual assault services, go to:
http://www.sa.psu.edu/cws/images/sexualassaultinformation.html

Penn State’s policy on sexual assault (AD12) is online at: http://guru.psu.edu/policies/ad12.html