Content Warning: The following article contains discussion of sexual assault.
The University released the findings of the 2022 We Speak: Attitudes on Sexual Misconduct at Princeton (We Speak) survey, an anonymous online survey measuring Princeton students’ experience with sexual misconduct and assault. This is the first time the University has administered the survey since 2017, ending a five-year hiatus. While the percent of respondents who reported experiencing inappropriate sexual behavior rose from 16 percent in 2017 to 17 percent, the response rate fell from 51 percent of the undergraduate student body in 2017 to 31 percent in the latest 2022 survey.
This year, the We Speak survey has changed by omitting data about the identity of assailants, detailed location of incidents, and whether or not incidents occurred in eating clubs. The survey also asked additional follow-up questions specifically regarding incidents of sexual harassment as opposed to sexual misconduct.
Princeton’s history with sexual misconduct and Title IX is long and wrought with controversy. In 2014, a lawsuit was filed against Princeton in which the University was found to be in violation of Title IX for “fail[ing] to provide a prompt and equitable response to complaints of sexual harassment, including sexual assault/violence.” This prompted changes to the Title IX policy as well as the creation of a Faculty-Student Committee on Sexual Misconduct.
It was after the 2014 Title IX lawsuit against Princeton that the University first conducted the We Speak survey as a “commitment to survey its campus community.” The survey was conducted each academic year from 2014 to 2017. After a three-year effort, Princeton stopped conducting the survey annually due to concerns about the damaging effects of asking the student body such sensitive questions every year. Instead, the University planned to send a survey every four years, but the newest iteration was delayed an extra year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the University was unable to conduct a survey during the pandemic, there is evidence that rates of sexual and domestic violence around the world increased during the pandemic. The most recent We Speak survey was a confidential web-based survey administered over 27 days, beginning on March 15, 2022.
Due to the low response rate, the University conducted another survey asking non-respondents why they chose not to respond. Students indicated that they were too busy to participate and that they felt that the University would not act upon We Speak data. In the 2022 We Speak report, the authors concluded, “This suggests community attention to sexual misconduct has shifted toward other pressing issues such as diversity, equity, and inclusion; wellbeing; and the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Sexual violence on college campuses is pervasive and often goes unreported. Princeton is no exception; in the 2021-2022 academic year, 17 percent, or 447 out of the 2681 respondents who completed at least one question in the We Speak survey, reported that they experienced inappropriate sexual behavior. In the 2021-2022 academic year, the University investigated just three cases of sexual misconduct through the formal adjudication process and settled 16 through the alternate resolution process.
Students who have experienced sexual misconduct who choose to report to the Title IX office have two options: to go through a formal investigation or the alternate resolution process introduced in 2020.
Formal investigations tend to have a lengthy timeline. In a 2023 investigation by the ‘Prince,’ an individual who pursued a formal Title IX investigation called the process “inherently intrusive.” The University responded by saying that investigators are trained in trauma-informed questioning, that parties can request a break at any time for any reason, and that interviews begin with investigators acknowledging that there may be difficult questions and attempting to make students more comfortable.
If the alternate resolution route is taken, both parties must agree to the terms. In that case, there would be no disciplinary action taken against a respondent, and the resolution would not appear on the respondent’s disciplinary record. There may be disciplinary consequences if a respondent breaks a signed agreement, by violating a no-contact order, for example. After the introduction of the alternate resolution process, 36 cases have been resolved through the alternate resolution process and 22 have been formally adjudicated by the Title IX office.
Follow-up questions were asked to 433 students who indicated experiencing sexual harassment in the 2022 survey. These students were asked about the “most serious incident of sexual harassment” they had experienced, including questions about whether they told anyone about the incident, who the incident involved, and how many people were involved.
In all previous years, when all of the data presented focused on sexual assault and/or rape rather than sexual harassment, less than 60 percent of respondents indicated that they told someone about the incident; in the 2022 We Speak survey, where the data released focused on sexual harassment, over 60 percent indicated that they told someone about the incident. In 2022, for those who indicated that they told someone, 82 percent told a close friend other than a roommate, while 33 percent told a roommate or suitemate, 14 percent told SHARE, and seven percent told the Title IX office. For those who indicated that they didn’t tell anyone, 51 percent said that the reason why was that they “didn’t think what happened was serious enough to talk about.”
Across all four We Speak surveys, cisgender men were less likely to indicate that they have experienced inappropriate sexual behavior than respondents with other gender identities. In the 2022 We Speak survey, two in five genderqueer, gender non-conforming, non-binary, or transgender respondents indicated that they have experienced sexual misconduct. This figure stood at one in four cisgender women and one in 12 cisgender men.
The 2022 We Speak survey identifies several identity-based groups that are disproportionately affected by sexual misconduct. These “risk factors” include gender identity, sexual orientation, and race. Certain “risk factors” led to students being more likely to have experienced sexual misconduct.
Those who identified as same-gender loving or genderqueer, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming individuals were around three times more likely to have experienced sexual misconduct. First-years were 1.7 times more likely to have experienced sexual misconduct compared to the average student. Some groups were less likely to be affected; Asian students had a risk factor of 0.64 as calculated by the 2022 We Speak survey.
Between each iteration of the We Speak survey, the language of the questions posed has changed. Specifically, the section of the survey that involved follow-up questions for students who indicated they experienced sexual misconduct has changed every year the survey has been conducted. As a result, as described in the 2017 We Speak report, “the data from these sections of the survey are not directly comparable across survey administrations.”
Mary Ma is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’
Kayla Xu contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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