According to a study conducted by the American Association of University Women, 62 percent of college students have been sexually harassed, and 35 percent of female students and 29 percent of males reported they were physically harassed.
Despite the national trend, members of AU's administration said it has not dealt with as many accusations of sexual harassment, and students say it is not a serious problem plaguing AU.
There are a handful of cases each year, but none have been reported this year, said Sara Waldron, associate dean of students.
The Office of Dean of Students established the Sexual Harassment Project Team to develop and distribute information regarding the issue, according to Waldron. Incoming freshmen receive brochures, and project team advisors are available to guide victims through the proper channels if they wish to file complaints or seek counseling services.
Waldron said she concluded that if sexual harassment is occurring on campus, "students aren't telling us."
Emily Caponetti, president of Democratic Women and Friends of AU, said she is sure sexual harassment occurs on campus even if students do not report it. The worst cases usually go unreported, she said.
Caponetti described sexual harassment as a by-product of the discrepancies in people's definition of the term. Caponetti said sexual harassment includes verbal and physical provocation that detrimentally affects a person's comfort level and infringes upon their "personal space and private lives." However, she said the definition is difficult to standardize because people are influenced by a number of variables, particularly their upbringing.
Caponetti said she believes the concept of sexual harassment is divided along gender lines, which partially explains why women are most often the targets of this abuse.
"Societal conditioning and the media" play a major role in fueling this gender variance, she said.
Since men see the media portraying women as "hard to get," they falsely learn that "no" means "try harder," Caponetti said. Boundaries are often overstepped without the aggressor realizing that it occurs at the discomfort of the other person.
Marc Cowans, a junior in the School of Public Affairs, also attributed sexual harassment to this same unawareness.
"Sexual harassment is unintentional," he said. People may not realize they are offending others or making them feel uncomfortable.
Just as damaging, society comes to expect sexual harassment claims to come from women, and so their complaints are taken more seriously than those reported by men, Caponetti said.
"I don't feel that men are more willing to report sexual harassment," she said
Waldron said the majority of cases brought to the Office of the Dean of Students and the Project Team are from females. However, some men have come in.
Russ Corten, a senior in SPA, said he has witnessed males as targets of sexual harassment, but he knows men's claims are often relegated to the bottom of schools' administrative priorities.
"Guys aren't supposed to feel sexually harassed," he said as an explanation.
Regardless of the gender of the victim, Katie Chesnut, a sophomore in SPA, said she has never witnessed any terrible acts of sexual harassment.
"Maybe it occurs behind closed doors," she said.
Brett Wilson, a junior in CAS, agreed, calling sexual harassment at AU a "rare occurrence"
