The Historically Black College and University Campus Sexual Assault Study

The purpose of this study is to work collaboratively with four historically black college and university (HBCU) campuses to 'generate much needed data on the prevalence, context, consequences, and reporting of sexual assault, as well as the criminal justice and service provider responses to sexual assault on HBCU campuses' (p.2). This will be accomplished via a Web-based survey that will collect data from 4,000 undergraduate HBCU women at geographically diverse campuses, and a mail survey to obtain data from campus criminal justice personnel and service providers at the participating HBCU campuses. The investigators note that 'many HBCU's have limited resources and are sometimes unable to invest in institutional research that might inform and benefit their administrations and/or their students' indicating both the importance of the proposed study and how the information garnered from the study may add information that addresses the gap in the institutional knowledge in this area.
Further it is noted that although an extensive literature on sexual assault among college campuses exists, very few studies have attempted to explore racial and/or ethnic differences in victimization rates among students, and no previous research has explored sexual assault on HBCU campuses even though HBCU campuses graduate nearly one-quarter of African American baccalaureates. This study will provide information to the research and practitioner communities that will address this gap in knowledge.

ca/ncf