2021 CU Boulder Sexual Misconduct Survey Results

The 2021 Sexual Misconduct survey was embedded within the larger 2021 Campus Culture Survey (CCS), administered between October 18th and November 28th, 2021. The Sexual Misconduct section of the survey was presented only to graduate and undergraduate students1. Survey participants were asked whether they had experienced sexual misconduct since becoming a student at CU Boulder. The number of survey participants and response rates were:

Students

Population

Responded

Response Rate

Undergraduate Women

13,678

4,274

31%

Undergraduate Men

16,589

3,422

21%

Graduate Women

3,030

1,511

50%

Graduate Men

3,945

1,539

39%

Although the 2021 overall response rate was lower in 2021 (29% responded to the sexual misconduct section of the Campus Culture Survey) as compared to 2015 (41% responded to the Sexual Misconduct Survey), the participants in both administrations were highly representative of the student population demographically, including for race and ethnicity, gender, school/college, and class level. Additional analyses will be performed to detect any differences among student populations related to sexual misconduct prevalence, characteristics, and perpetrators. Updates will be posted on this website as they become available.

It is not possible to compare all 2021 findings to 2015 results because of differences in the way that some questions were asked, as well as the addition of new questions in 2021.

Aggregate Rates of All Forms of Sexual Misconduct

All forms of sexual misconduct decreased from 2015 to 2021, with the exception of stalking, which remained about the same. Although the incidence of sexual assault, exploitation, and harassment as well as intimate partner violence may have indeed decreased due to factors such as the #metoo and #timesup movements, as well as campus prevention education efforts, compelling alternative explanations include:

  • A 鈥減andemic pause鈥 effect on sexual activity resulting from:
    • Decreased contact among students: remote classes, county and state health orders limiting parties and events, restricted contact among students living in the residence halls, and masking requirements.
    • .
    • .
    • .
  • .
  • Greater precision in the instructions, phrasing, and display logic of the 2021 sexual misconduct survey questions as compared to the 2015 version.
  • A possible increase in participation in 2021 among students who had not experienced sexual misconduct since becoming a student at CU Boulder. In 2015, communications about the survey, including messaging from campus leadership and the survey invitation/reminders, were exclusively focused on sexual misconduct; many students who didn鈥檛 feel the issue was relevant to them may have ignored the survey messages. In contrast, 2021 survey messaging highlighted the campus culture content and gave much less emphasis to the sexual misconduct component of the student version of the CCS; we may have seen greater participation in 2021 from students who would have otherwise declined to participate if the sexual misconduct content had been more explicitly communicated.

1 Due to the small number of survey participants (n < 15) who have self-identified in the CU records system as agender/do not gender identify, gender queer/non-conforming, non-binary, gender not listed, trans female/trans woman, trans male/trans man, or two spirit, results for this group cannot be disaggregated in this report.

 

2015

2021

Sexual Assault

N

Freq

%

N

Freq

%

Undergraduate Women

5,519

1545

28%

4,274

625

15%

Undergraduate Men

4,821

296

6%

3,422

78

2%

Graduate Women

1,168

111

10%

1,511

21

1%

Graduate Men

1,428

35

2%

1,539

9

1%

Sexual Harassment2

N

Freq

%

N

Freq

%

Undergraduate Women

5,519

1534

28%

4,364

841

19%

Undergraduate Men

4,821

451

9%

3,485

181

5%

Graduate Women

1,168

233

20%

1,527

95

6%

Graduate Men

1,428

94

7%

1,552

35

2%

Sexual Exploitation

N

Freq

%

N

Freq

%

Undergraduate Women

5,519

352

6%

4,243

219

5%

Undergraduate Men

4,821

125

3%

3,402

40

1%

Graduate Students3

2,596

30

1%

3,055

8

<1%

Intimate Partner Abuse

N

Freq

%

N

Freq

%

Undergraduate Women

5,519

785

14%

4,237

530

13%

Undergraduate Men

4,821

348

7%

3,399

174

5%

Graduate Women

1,168

98

8%

1,506

90

6%

Graduate Men

1,428

71

5%

1,537

42

3%

Stalking

N

Freq

%

N

Freq

%

Undergraduate Women

5,519

563

10%

4,232

429

10%

Undergraduate Men

4,821

151

3%

3,393

109

3%

Graduate Women

1,168

95

8%

1,506

68

5%

Graduate Men

1,428

27

2%

1,536

22

1%

In 2021, the questions that asked about Sexual Harassment were incorporated into the CCS for all versions of the survey (student and employee). They appeared before the presentation of questions about other forms of sexual misconduct that came at the end of the survey and that were only administered to students. Due to attrition (participants dropping off as they moved through the survey), more participants responded to the Sexual Harassment questions.

Due to small numbers of participants, results for sexual exploitation for graduate students are not broken out by gender.

In September 2022, Provost Russ Moore and Chief Operating Officer Patrick T. O'Rourke charged a task force with reviewing the sexual misconduct survey results and making recommendations about how the campus can develop an integrated and comprehensive approach to sexual misconduct prevention. The purpose of the Sexual Misconduct Task Force is to tap into the knowledge of experts and strengthen engagement across campus to continue to make progress and innovate on our current prevention strategies and practices.

Sexual Misconduct Task Force Member List

Sexual Misconduct Task Force Report - August 2023

The Sexual Misconduct Task Force convened eleven times between October 2022 and July 2023 to thoroughly review campus data and peer-reviewed research and determine recommendations for reducing sexual harm against undergraduate students. This report is not an exhaustive inventory of all the current prevention and response efforts in place at the university. The purpose of this report is to recommend additional actions that have been identified and endorsed by the task force and approved by CU's Chief Operating Officer and Provost.

Read the full report.