Sexual harassment and abuse on college campuses has garnered increased attention in the media and by political leaders. Surprisingly, there is little research documenting what is actually happening among college students – what the levels of abuse and harassment are, who is being victimized, and how students feel their college administrators are dealing with these issues.

In the spring of 2018 Crux Research surveyed 717 current college students to learn more about the current state of these issues. An issue like sexual harassment can be challenging to get right from a polling standpoint because it can be difficult to define. As a general term, it can be too broad to interpret as different experiences may be construed by one person as harassment and as another as not being harassment. The best way to address this is to be specific in our questioning. To be sure respondents understood our objectives, we developed a list of statements under three harassment categories shown below:

Verbal/Non-Physical harassment

• Being called gay or lesbian in a negative way
• Being shown sexy or sexual pictures you didn’t want to see
• Being verbally intimidated in a sexual way
• Having someone make unwelcome sexual comments, jokes, or gestures to or about you
• Having someone flash or expose themselves to you

Online harassment

• Being called gay or lesbian in a negative way online
• Having someone spread unwelcome sexual rumors about you online
• Having someone post unwelcome sexual comments, jokes, or pictures about or of you online
• Being sent unwelcome sexual comments, jokes, or pictures electronically

Physical harassment

• Being physically intimidated in a sexual way
• Being touched in an unwelcome sexual way
• Being forced to do something sexual you didn’t want to do

For each, we asked the college student if he/she had been a victim of the specific type of harassment since they had been a college student. We found that 54% of college students have been a victim of some form of verbal/non-physical harassment, 45% have been a victim of some sort of online harassment, and 32% have been a victim of some sort of physical harassment.

Importantly, this study finds that while victimization is usually thought of as an issue for college women, college men are also common victims of sexual harassment:

• 55% of college females have been the victims of verbal harassment, compared to 52% of college males.
• 42% of college females have been the victims of online harassment, compared to 47% of college males.
• 32% of college females have been the victims of physical harassment, compared to 32% of college males.

There are some large differences in college males and females, depending on the specific form of harassment:

College females are more likely than college males to report that…

• Someone has made unwelcome sexual comments, jokes, or gestures to or about them (41% of females; 17% of males).
• They have been verbally intimidated in a sexual way (27% of females; 17% of males).
• They have been sent unwelcome sexual comments, jokes, or pictures electronically (30% of females; 17% of males).

College males are more likely than college females to report that…

• Being called gay or lesbian in a negative way (20% of males; 14% of females).
• Being called gay or lesbian in a negative way online (20% of males; 8% of females).

Perhaps most surprising is that for the most serious abuse item presented (“being forced to do something sexual that you didn’t want to do”) there was no statistical difference between college males and college females. Overall, 13% of college students indicated this has happened to them since they have been at college – about 1 in 8 college students. Again, the most serious types of sexual harassment and abuse happening on campuses is not solely a female issue. College men are reporting being sexual abused in a physical way as well.

Although we have shown that victimization is not solely an issue for college females, it is clear from our study that the perpetrators of sexual harassment/abuse are predominantly male. Overall, victims report that 72% of the time their harasser was male, 16% of the time the harasser was female, and 12% of the time it was both.

Most commonly, victims report that their harasser was a fellow college student (53%) or a friend (26%). 12% report that their harasser was a romantic partner. It is rare that students will report that their instructors/professors (4% of cases) or another adult at college (3%) are the harassers. Sexual harassment on college campuses appears to be mostly peer-to-peer.

Unique to this study, we also asked college students if they had done anything since they had been a student that could be correctly interpreted as being sexual harassment. Seventeen percent (17%) of students said they had – including 28% of all college males. To repeat: more than one in four (28%) of college males admit that they have done something to sexually harass another student since they have been in college.

Perhaps most troubling is how infrequently instances of abuse are reported. This study indicates that just 37% of harassment gets reported. Females (reporting 24% of instances) are less likely than males (54%) to make a report. For every report made by a college female, there are three incidents that are not reported.  And, our study also found that instances where the harasser was a fellow student are the ones that are least likely to be reported.

This issue has been brought more front and center at colleges in the past few years. College culture is moving towards supporting the victim/accuser. Compared to a year ago, about half (52%) of students are more likely to believe someone that reports being sexually harassed and 15% are less likely to believe someone who reports harassment. About two-thirds (65%) of students think the greater focus on these issues will result in a long-term change in attitudes about sexual harassment at college. Three-quarters (74%) feel that unreported sexual harassment is a bigger issue than false reporting of sexual harassment.

College students are largely satisfied with how their administration has addressed sexual misconduct and harassment. Overall, just 6% felt that their administration is not taking this issue seriously. Seventy percent (70%) feel that their college provides enough protection against sexual harassment and abuse.

In sum, sexual harassment and abuse occurs at a troubling level at colleges – and both college females and males are victims. Students are rallying behind the accusers, yet far too few victims are reporting harassment incidences, especially when they happen student-to-student. It appears that students have confidence in their administrators to handle these issues and protect them.