Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

Content warning: This article contains references to sexual violence.

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The overall prevalence of sexual assault has decreased since 2019. Still, 9.8 percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing rape and 18.4 percent sexual assault since entering college, according to a newly released survey. 

On Oct. 21, Yale released the 2024 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct and Resource Awareness. The survey, conducted in spring 2024 in partnership with nine other institutions, aimed to assess the prevalence of sexual misconduct at Yale and students’ awareness of support resources. Title IX Coordinator Elizabeth Conklin highlighted that the survey results “indicate some progress” and “concerning trends in other areas.”

“[The survey] is only the first step in our work, and it is too soon to be able to draw conclusions from the data. The Title IX Office and the working group will be asked to conduct additional analysis on the results which should help us to better understand students’ experiences and draw informed conclusions about the data,” Conklin wrote to the News.

The Yale 2024 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Misconduct and Resource Awareness was distributed to students in April and administered in collaboration between Yale and nine other higher education institutions, including Harvard, Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania. 

In the email, Conklin wrote that she is “encouraged to see a decline in the overall estimated prevalence of sexual assault experienced by students, with a particular decrease among women students.”

The estimated rates of sexual misconduct for the University as a whole are based on cases and experiences of sexual misconduct reported by the 19.7 percent of Yale students who responded to the survey — a sharp drop in response participation from 45.4 percent for 2019 and 51.8 for 2015.

The percentage of undergraduate women who were victims of rape since entering college was 13.2 percent in 2015, 12.1 percent in 2019 and 9.8 percentage in 2024. 

Rates of rape and sexual assault were significantly lower among graduate and professional students.  

The percentage of undergraduate gender nonbinary, transgender, questioning or self-identified students who were victims of rape since entering college was reported as 8.7 percent in 2019 and 10.5 percent in 2024. 

The survey indicated a rise in the use of campus resources and awareness of support services, but concerns about the effectiveness of reporting procedures and prevention efforts persist.

Conklin noted a “steady increase” in student utilization of campus resources over the years. Intimate partner violence, sexual assault, stalking and harassing behavior victims contacted a program or utilized University resources at higher rates compared to 2019.  

Only 35.8 percent of students reported being “very” or “extremely” knowledgeable about how Yale defines sexual misconduct, and only 44.4 percent knew where to find help, in 2024 slightly down from 2019. Then, 40 percent of students reported knowing Yale’s definition and 52.1 knew where to find help or resources for sexual misconduct incidents. 

The 2024 survey also revealed that 57.5 percent of students believe it is “very” or “extremely” likely that Yale officials would take reports of sexual misconduct seriously, with undergraduate women, at 44.5 percent, significantly less confident compared to undergraduate men, at 64.6 percent. Nonbinary, transgender and self-identified students reported an even lower belief that campus officials would take reports seriously, at 31.8 percent for undergraduates.

Yale’s next steps

In response to the findings, Conklin announced the formation of a working group, tasked by University President Maurie McInnis and Vice President for University Life Kimberly Goff-Crews, to analyze the results and make recommendations to prevent sexual misconduct with input from students, faculty and staff. 

Conklin wrote that the working group will “seek input from a broad range of campus constituencies and will provide a variety of opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to contribute their thoughts on this important topic” and expects their work to begin later in the semester. It will also conduct “additional analyses on the survey results and will make recommendations to inform our programs and initiatives to address and prevent sexual misconduct.”

The working group will then provide recommendations for the Title IX office and programs across the University. The survey results will also be discussed with deans throughout the University to inform the school-specific initiatives they should implement to “help drive change.” 

“This is a time to be aware of the resources available to you and your friends; no issue is too small or too large,” Melanie Boyd, Dean of Student Affairs, and Burgwell Howard, Dean of Student Engagement, wrote to Yale College students in a message after Conklin’s announcement. 

Conklin expects that Yale will additionally engage with the other institutions surveyed in the coming months to explore their initiatives and identify opportunities that it could implement on campus. Nine other institutions simultaneously conducted similar surveys, but Yale has not yet discussed results with individual institutions, according to Conklin. 

SHARE provides confidential information, advocacy and support to members of the Yale community who are dealing with sexual misconduct of any kind.

Josie Reich and Ariela Lopez contributed reporting.