Sexual Harassment of Students at Institutions of Higher Education: Variations in Students’ Experiences, Knowledge, and Perceptions Across Institutions

• Author: Marie C. D. Stoner,Sandra L. Martin,Nivedita L. Bhushan,L. B. Klein,Bonnie S. Fisher,Grace E. Mulholland,Lawrence L. Kupper,Ishrat Z. Alam
• DOI: 10.1177/15570851211062572
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Feminist Criminology

2022, Vol. 17(3) 322–342

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/15570851211062572

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Sexual Harassment of

Students at Institutions of

Higher Education: Variations

in Students’Experiences,

Knowledge, and Perceptions

Across Institutions

L. B. Klein

1,2

, Marie C. D. Stoner

3,4

, Nivedita L. Bhushan

5

,

Grace E. Mulholland

6

, Bonnie S. Fisher

7

, Lawrence L. Kupper

8

,

Ishrat Z. Alam

9

, and Sandra L. Martin

10

Abstract

Attention to sexual misconduct has focused on acquaintance rape, leaving a need for

research on less highly recognizable forms of harm. We estimated institution of higher

education (IHE)-specif‌ic prevalence of yellow zone sexual harassment (SH) among

1

Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

2

School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

3

Women’s Global Health Imperative, RTI International, San Francisco, CA, USA

4

Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, Chapel Hill, USA

5

Center for Communication Science, RTI International, Durham, NC, USA

6

Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

7

School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

8

Department of Biostatistics, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

9

Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

10

Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North

Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Corresponding Author:

L. B. Klein, Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1350 University

Ave, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.

Email: lb.klein@wisc.edu

students at 27 IHEs. We then examined SH and perceived risk of sexual assault/

misconduct, knowledge regarding policies/resources, and perceptions of sexual mis-

conduct response. Between 37.1% and 55.7% of students experienced SH. Harassed

students were much more likely than non-harassed students to feel at risk for sexual

misconduct and to have negative views of sexual misconduct response. Implications for

research, policy, and prevention/response are discussed.

Keywords

sexual harassment, college campuses, campus climate, yellow zone, sexual misconduct

Sexual misconduct, def‌ined as non-consensual sexual contact, sexual harassment,

stalking, and intimate partner violence, has received increasing attention over the past

decade at institutions of higher education (IHE; Cantor et al., 2017). Survivors

1

have

shared their stories in movements, such as Title IX activism and #MeToo, which has led

to federal and campus policy changes and increased research (Klein et al., 2018). However,

much of this attention has focused exclusively on acquaintance sexual assault, leaving a need

for research on yellow zone forms of sexual misconduct such as sexual harassment (SH).

A growing body of evidence suggests that SH may have serious consequences for

students and that the prevalence of SH may vary by IHEs (Cantor et al., 2017;Huerta

et al., 2006;Jirek & Saunders, 2018;McGinley et al., 2016;Rospenda et al., 2000;

Shinsako, et al., 2001). Research has primarily focused on students’individual risk and

protective factors for SH, with limited studies spanning multiple IHEs to examine how

institutional-level factors (e.g., campus climate) may relate to SH victimization or

perpetration (Klein & Martin, 2021). Therefore, the present study sought to f‌ill this gap

in research by using data from the 27 IHEs that participated in the Association of

American Universities’(AAU) 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and

Sexual Misconduct to characterize SH prevalence across IHEs and to assess rela-

tionships at the institutional level between students’experiences of SH victimization

and their perceptions of campus climate and knowledge of IHE services for SH.

Scope and Prevalence of SH

Sexual harassment is “a series of behaviors that interfered with the victim’s academic or

professional performances, limited the victim’s ability to participate in an academic

program, or created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive social, academic, or work

environment”(Cantor et al., 2017). The US Department of Education (2001) deems SH

a form of discrimination based on sex due to how it interferes with students’“academic,

extracurricular, research, occupational training, or other education program or activity.”

SH can include inappropriate or discriminatory comments about someone’s body,

appearances, or sexual behaviors; sexual remarks or jokes; non-consensual sending of

photos or videos; non-consensual f‌lashing or exposure of genitals; and sexual coercion

Klein et al. 323