1 in 5 UNB students experience form of sexual assault on campus: survey

A survey launched in late 2015 has provided the University of New Brunswick with a clear picture of instances of sexual assault on their campuses.

The Sexual Assault Climate Survey gathered data from more than 1,200 students.

READ MORE: UNB releases long awaited sexual assault policy and procedures document

Twenty-one per cent reported they had experienced some form of sexual assault since attending UNB while 34 per cent said they had experienced a similar situation before enrolling.

“We need to be taking action here on university campuses,” said Dr. Rice Fuller, UNB’s Health and Wellness Senior Director and one of three researchers who conducted the survey. “But it’s got to be much larger than that.”

“We’ve known for years the number of assaults that are reported is a dramatic underestimate of what’s actually occurring so this was, I believe, a bold step by the university to support us in doing this survey and to support us in releasing the results.”

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READ MORE: UNB rolling out first of its kind standalone sexual assault policy

Despite the potential for the numbers to worry some prospective students and/or their parents, releasing the information was done with the university’s full support.

Vice President Academic Dr. George MacLean believes it was necessary to gauge the school’s current situation and better address sexual assault going forward.

“The intention behind the climate survey and trying to get this background information was to provide ongoing information to the people we have on campus, the organizations, the specialists, the counselors and the advocates to be able to work with our students to get a snapshot of what things look like on campus now,” said MacLean.

“What this has allowed us to do is to look within our own campus,” he said.

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The student union is hoping to better educate students in light of the survey results by launching a poster campaign.

The Break the Silence Campaign sees posters highlighting the figures obtained by the survey displayed in common areas throughout campus.

“Sexual assault campaigns are vital all across Canada,” said Katie Beers, UNB Student Union Vice President External. “It’s something that’s not talked about enough, we just kind of shove it under the rug.”

“We need students to know that it does happen at UNB and I think that by addressing that it does happen we can take further steps to preventing it and making sexual violence not tolerated at UNB.”

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