New Report on Sex Assaults at Start of College

Three percent of female college students responding to a new survey reported being sexually assaulted within their first four to six weeks of college. The survey, conducted by EverFi, an education company that specializes in sexual assault prevention training, included 530,000 students from more than 400 institutions. Nearly 10 percent of female respondents said they had been assaulted by their senior year, as had 4 percent of male students. Thirteen percent of female students in the survey said they had been assaulted prior to coming to college. The survey defined sexual assault as being "pressured or forced into sexual contact without consent."

The Justice Department estimates that 6.1 per 1,000 female students are sexually assaulted, and the oft-cited and oft-criticized National Institute of Justice Campus Sexual Assault Study puts that number at 1 in 5.