Campus sexual assault is an ongoing social problem that affects public health and public safety in the United States. Sexual assault is a broad term that includes unwanted sexual activity ranging from groping or fondling, to kissing, to attempted or completed rape. Recent surveys estimate that up to 20 percent of female college students and 6 percent of male college students are victims of an attempted or completed sexual assault prior to graduation. Around half of these sexual assaults will happen within the first two years of student’s college experience. In general, female college students are more at risk than their male counterparts to become a victim of sexual assault. Female college students are also at greater risk of being sexually assaulted than female non-college students who are traditional college age. In contrast to popular belief, the majority of campus sexual assaults occur between people who know each other. The terms acquaintance sexual assault and acquaintance rape describe this dynamic between perpetrators and victims. Perpetrators use a variety of tactics on their victims including but not limited to threats, coercion, force or threats of force, and legal or illicit substances.

As youth immerse themselves into college culture, unique risk factors such as alcohol use and exposure to particular social contexts such as fraternities and bars increase a student’s risk of becoming sexually assaulted. It is estimated that 50 percent of perpetrators, victims, or both are under the influence of alcohol at the time of the sexual assault. The social contexts of Greek life have also been identified as contributing to campus sexual assault. For example, some scholars find associations between fraternity membership and the acceptance of rape myths and or attitudes of sexual aggression toward women. Furthermore, sorority members have been found to be at greater risk than non-sorority members to be sexually assaulted.

The vast majority of sexual assaults are not reported to the police, adding to the difficulty of accurately measuring students’ experiences with campus sexual assault. According to research sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) that surveyed college students who were victims of sexual assault, 95 percent or more of attempted or completed sexual assaults were not reported to the police.