View this email in a browser

Office of the President, UTA

 

Friday, March 24, 2017

In 2015, Chancellor McRaven announced that the University of Texas System would initiate an in-depth study of sexual assault and misconduct. The Cultivating Learning and Safe Environments (CLASE) study — conducted by UT Austin’s Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault — was developed as a proactive UT-specific effort to better understand the prevalence as well as students’ experiences and perceptions of sexual assault and misconduct on its campuses. The UT System has today released both System-wide and individual academic campus results of the survey at www.utsystem.edu/sites/clase.

A total of 4,253 students across our campus participated in the survey and the results released today indicate that 8% of the undergraduate female students responding to the survey reported having experienced rape, 9% of the students responding to the survey reported experiencing unwanted sexual touching, 11% of the students responding to the survey reported stalking victimization, and 11% of students responding to the survey reported sexist gender harassment by faculty/staff.

It should be noted that 87% of the reported incidents of physical violence (rape, dating/domestic abuse and unwanted sexual contact) were reported to have occurred off campus, and 76% of victims and 83% of non-victims reported UTA would take a report of sexual misconduct seriously.

The results of the survey are deeply troubling to me and all of us at the University. For over 10 years we have developed and implemented programs and services that assist victims and educate the general campus population about sexual assault, violence, harassment, and related behaviors. The Relationship Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Program (RVSP), the Behavior Intervention Team (BIT), Peer Educators and Advocates in residence halls, UTA Health Services, and UTA Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) are just a few of the initiatives in place to help victims, facilitate reporting, educate on how to intervene, and support those who need it.

It is clear that we must do much more. We will continue to strengthen programs and services to ensure that sexual misconduct, and for that matter any form of harassment or violence that affects the wellness of a student, is not tolerated at UTA.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, violence, harassment, or related misconduct, I urge you to contact our Title IX office at www.uta.edu/titleix or any of the offices listed above.

We are a Community That Cares and we must hold ourselves to the highest standards, today, tomorrow, and always.

Vistasp M. Karbhari
President

-

 

 

Office of the President701 S. Nedderman Dr.  • Arlington, Texas 76019

president@uta.edu • 817-272-2101 (voice) • 817-272-5656 (fax)

Follow on Twitter