Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

[Nancy Cantalupo <>]

My apologies.  The phone number was not included.  It is 703-244-0390.

 

From: Nancy Cantalupo [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2013 9:49 PM
To:
Subject: Research Project regarding Campus Surveys on Sexual/Gender-Based Violence

 

Dear SAPC Colleagues,

 

Most of you do not know me, but I am a new list member who has – despite my newness to the list – been involved in this field for many years.  Most recently, I have written several law review/journal articles about sexual/gender-based violence on college campuses and the range of federal laws that apply to the issues (including Title IX, Clery and constitutional law governing accused perpetrators due process rights).  I am writing today to make a request related to a current research project that I am conducting for a potential article in the Trauma, Violence & Abuse journal.  I posted this request on several listservs earlier this summer, so my apologies if this is a repeat.  I am resending the request because I know that many folks may be on 10-month contracts or have taken extended vacations or leaves during the summer and may just now be returning to campus.

 

This research project is a follow-up on an article I published in 2011, Burying Our Heads in the Sand: Lack of Knowledge, Knowledge Avoidance, and the Persistent Problem of Campus Peer Sexual Violence (downloadable for free at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1829425), in which I  advanced a recommendation that the federal government conduct regular national surveys about sexual violence/gender-based violence on college campuses.  The recommendation is designed to address the underreporting of sexual and other forms gender-based violence by not relying solely on victim-reporting of the violence and taking universities out of the “middle man” position with regard to reporting.  The potential article in the Trauma, Violence & Abuse journal will follow-up on this recommendation by gathering and discussing campuses that have already surveyed their students to determine the incidence of sexual and other gender-based violence among their students. 

 

I am seeking to speak to those on campuses that have conducted such surveys.  I am interested in learning more about their experiences conducting such surveys and the impact of the surveys on their campuses. 

 

The kind of surveys in which I am interested include those that ask questions like those in the Sexual Experiences Survey (developed by Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski and revised by Koss, Abbey, Campbell, Cook, Norris, Testa, Ullman, West, & White) of either all students or a random sample of students from a single college/university.  An example of such a survey can be found at http://www.unh.edu/justiceworks/media/pdfs/USE_First_IncidencePrevalence_U_S_E__Report_2007.pdf.  The surveys could be conducted for institutional purposes or for faculty research purposes.  Participation in the American College Health Survey or similar surveys that have some portion dealing with the incidence of sexual/gender-based violence, but are developed by another entity and then adopted and administered by individual schools, are of secondary interest.  That is, although I am not as interested in these surveys, I am still somewhat interested in them if they have had some specific impact on the way the school responds to SV/GBV.

 

If you are at a school that has conducted or is conducting such a survey and would be willing to talk with me about your school’s survey, please let me know.  I would call you to have a brief (1/2 hour – 45 minute) conversation about the survey, why the survey was/is being conducted, and what, if any, impact it has had on how the campus responds to SV/GBV.  I do not need information about the survey’s results, and I will keep confidential your name, the names of any individuals with whom I speak, the names of schools, and any other information that you feel could identify any specific school.   

 

In addition, if you happen to know of other schools that have done or are doing such surveys, I would appreciate you letting me know the name of the school and any person at the school who you think I should contact regarding their survey.  If you would prefer not to pass along names of schools or school contacts, feel free to forward this email to your contacts so they can get in touch with me directly.

 

Finally, if your school is not doing such a survey, but you wish your school would, please send me a quick email stating that wish.  Again, I will keep all individuals’ names and identifying information about the school confidential.

 

I would appreciate a reply from anyone who is willing to speak with me by this Friday, August 30, so we can arrange a date and time in which to schedule a phone conversation (sorry for the rush, but the article is due in mid-Sept).  I thank you, in advance, for any information you can provide regarding this research project.  Please feel free to let me know if you have questions as well.  I can be reached by email or phone at the contact information below.

 

Best,

Nancy

 

 

Nancy Chi Cantalupo

Researcher
Georgetown University Law Center

 

You can access my scholarship on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=884485