WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 - One in four college students have been touched or grabbed against their will, or someone intentionally brushed up against them, in a sexual way on campus, according to a national survey released here on Tuesday.
The survey by the American Association of University Women, "Drawing the Line: Sexual Harassment on Campus," found that one in six had received suggestive pictures, Web pages or messages, while 7 percent had had their clothes pulled down, and 5 percent were asked for sexual favors in exchange for a better grade, class notes, a recommendation or other perks.
"Sexual harassment is common among today's undergraduate students, so common that it seems normal," said Elena Silva, the American Association of University Women's director of research. Citing the survey, she said that as a result of unwelcome sexual overtures, female students especially "are embarrassed, angered, scared and disappointed in their college experience," she said.
The online survey was conducted by Harris Interactive, which polled 2,036 students at two- and four-year colleges. It had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. The survey was conducted from May 5 to May 25, 2005.
The survey defined harassment in an unusually broad way, an effort, its authors said, to capture the widest possible range of behaviors that could fall into the category of unwanted sexual incidents, and to prompt students, teachers and university officials to reconsider episodes that they ordinarily shrug off.
Defining harassment as any "unwanted and unwelcome sexual behavior which interferes with your life," the poll found that more than 60 percent of students said they had experienced sexual harassment. But some scholars of discrimination said that the definition was so broad that it failed to distinguish between behavior that was an ordinary, if annoying, part of living among other teens, and incidents that were "severe or pervasive," the legal threshold used by courts to determine whether harassment has occurred.
"I'm sympathetic to their goal of calling attention to this form of conduct," said George Rutherglen, a law professor at the University of Virginia, and co-author of the 2005 book "Employment Discrimination Law and Theory" (Foundation Press). But he added, "People, particularly undergraduates, have to grow up, and part of growing up is making mistakes." He called for "a realistic appraisal of what needs to be prohibited."
The poll went on ask about what it called "examples of sexual harassment," which ranged from unwanted "sexual comments, jokes, gestures or looks," to being flashed or mooned, to being the subject of sexual rumors.
Ninety percent of the students never reported these behaviors to campus authorities, saying that they considered them "no big deal." Nevertheless, more than half the women and a third of the men said they felt self-conscious or embarrassed as a result of the incidents; 35 percent of the women and 16 percent of the men said the experiences shook their self-confidence.
__________________________________________________________________________________