Nearly 50% of all students at colleges and universities across Ontario report being a victim of some form of sexual harassment or sexual violence.
The Student Voices on Sexual Violence Survey was conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, to gather information about perceptions and experiences of sexual violence at the post-secondary level.
The survey asked about perceptions of consent to sexual activity; knowledge about supports in the event of a sexual assault; whether or not the respondent had been a victim of sexual assault; stalking and the satisfaction with the institution's response to the problem.
It also tracked whether students had seen an incident of sexual violence as well as whether they intervened.
(Photo by AM800's Peter Langille)
At St.Clair College in Windsor, 50.2% of those surveyed disclosed a sexual harassment experience while the figure was 60.7% at the University of Windsor.
24.9% of those surveyed at St.Clair College reported a stalking experience while 23.6% of those surveyed at the University of Windsor disclosed a similar experience.
20.6% of survey respondents at the university also reported a non-consensual sexual experience while the number was 19.9% at the college.
St. Clair's Vice-President Academic, Waseem Habash calls the results surprising and unfortunate.
"What we have to base our efforts is on the results and we have to raise awareness on our campus and I think every institution has to do that across the campuses in the province," says Habash.
He points out that the variance among the schools was not significant.
"There isn't a college or university that's really an outlier. The results seem to be within a five-percentile, plus or minus, across the board between the majority of the institutions in the province of Ontario, that includes colleges and universities," says Habash.
When it comes to peak periods for cases of sexual violence or harassment, he says the college has targeted the time when most of the incidents occur.
"The majority of the incidents, if you look around the province, normally happen at the beginning of the semester, it's normally during orientation week and it's normally in residence," says Habash. We feel we have put a lot of effort in that area."
Habash says there are security personnel on campus and at the residences during the orientation period.
CLICK HERE to find the entire Student Voices on Sexual Violence Survey.