Though sexual assault is troublingly frequent on college campuses across the nation, there isn't Arkansas-specific information for state lawmakers to assess, Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, said at a joint higher education subcommittee meeting on Tuesday.
That's why he asked the House-Senate subcommittee to approve an interim study proposal so he could look into the matter. No one opposed the proposal in a voice vote.
"When I was a student at the University of Arkansas campus and even today when I'm on campus, I've never felt unsafe walking across campus, walking through a parking deck, but I know that my wife often does," he said. "I've heard from other female students who say they don't feel safe."
In an interview, he said he hoped to involve concerned parties in a committee that could develop a report by late 2016.
"This is something we should take a look at in the Legislature," he said.
The discussion came a day after the Association of American Universities released a survey that found the "incidence of sexual assault and sexual misconduct due to physical force, threats of physical force, or incapacitation among female undergraduate student respondents was 23.1 percent, including 10.8 percent who experienced penetration."
The survey polled 150,000 students at 27 universities. It supported statistics from the White House, which has said one in five women are sexually assaulted while in college, and a 2015 Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll that found 20 percent of women who attended college said they were sexually assaulted.
Despite the number of students who are assaulted, few reported the attacks to campus officials or police. The Association of American Universities survey found that 5 percent to 28 percent report assaults, depending on the type of behavior.
About 63 percent surveyed believed that a report would be taken seriously by officials.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville told the U.S. Department of Education that just five students reported a forcible sex offense and no students reported a nonforcible sex offense in 2013.
More than 25,000 are enrolled at the school, which did not return a request for comment.
The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith reported two forcible sex offenses in 2013. University of Arkansas campuses in Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Monticello reported no such assaults for that year.
Andrea Pino, co-founder of End Rape on Campus, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that supports victims, educates students on applicable laws and advocates for legislation, said there's a disparity between assaults and reports because schools don't always support victims who come forward.
"Schools are so focused on compliance that they often forget that they should be committed to ending sexual violence," she said. "Until we get to a climate that moves away from victim blaming, that actually holds perpetrators accountable, that actually protects survivors when they come forward, it's going to be very difficult to raise those numbers."
Pino's organization has helped file more than 30 complaints against colleges and universities across the nation. According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 150 complaints have been filed against 130 institutions over matters involving sexual assault.
The complaints focus on how universities react to students after they say they've been assaulted. The Department of Education laid out specific rights and requirements in a 2011 "Dear Colleague" letter.
The department's authority stems from its role enforcing Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.
Pino said state government can make a difference in preventing assaults. She said California lawmakers audited their universities' sexual assault policies. The state also enacted a new legal standard in cases of sexual assault on college campuses.
"Sexual assault happens everywhere -- including Arkansas," she said. "It's not just happening on one campus. It's happening on every campus. It's of epidemic proportions."
Metro on 09/23/2015