2021 CU Boulder Sexual Misconduct Survey Results
The 2021 Sexual Misconduct survey was embedded within the larger 2021 Campus Culture Survey (CCS), administered between October 18th and November 28th, 2021. The Sexual Misconduct section of the survey was presented only to graduate and undergraduate students1. Survey participants were asked whether they had experienced sexual misconduct since becoming a student at CU Boulder. The number of survey participants and response rates were:
| Students | Population | Responded | Response Rate |
| Undergraduate Women | 13,678 | 4,274 | 31% |
| Undergraduate Men | 16,589 | 3,422 | 21% |
| Graduate Women | 3,030 | 1,511 | 50% |
| Graduate Men | 3,945 | 1,539 | 39% |
Although the 2021 overall response rate was lower in 2021 (29% responded to the sexual misconduct section of the Campus Culture Survey) as compared to 2015 (41% responded to the Sexual Misconduct Survey), the participants in both administrations were highly representative of the student population demographically, including for race and ethnicity, gender, school/college, and class level. Additional analyses will be performed to detect any differences among student populations related to sexual misconduct prevalence, characteristics, and perpetrators. Updates will be posted on this website as they become available.
It is not possible to compare all 2021 findings to 2015 results because of differences in the way that some questions were asked, as well as the addition of new questions in 2021.
Aggregate Rates of All Forms of Sexual Misconduct
All forms of sexual misconduct decreased from 2015 to 2021, with the exception of stalking, which remained about the same. Although the incidence of sexual assault, exploitation, and harassment as well as intimate partner violence may have indeed decreased due to factors such as the #metoo and #timesup movements, as well as campus prevention education efforts, compelling alternative explanations include:
- A “pandemic pause” effect on sexual activity resulting from:
- Decreased contact among students: remote classes, county and state health orders limiting parties and events, restricted contact among students living in the residence halls, and masking requirements.
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- Greater precision in the instructions, phrasing, and display logic of the 2021 sexual misconduct survey questions as compared to the 2015 version.
- A possible increase in participation in 2021 among students who had not experienced sexual misconduct since becoming a student at CU Boulder. In 2015, communications about the survey, including messaging from campus leadership and the survey invitation/reminders, were exclusively focused on sexual misconduct; many students who didn’t feel the issue was relevant to them may have ignored the survey messages. In contrast, 2021 survey messaging highlighted the campus culture content and gave much less emphasis to the sexual misconduct component of the student version of the CCS; we may have seen greater participation in 2021 from students who would have otherwise declined to participate if the sexual misconduct content had been more explicitly communicated.
1 Due to the small number of survey participants (n < 15) who have self-identified in the CU records system as agender/do not gender identify, gender queer/non-conforming, non-binary, gender not listed, trans female/trans woman, trans male/trans man, or two spirit, results for this group cannot be disaggregated in this report.
2015 | 2021 | |||||
| Sexual Assault | N | Freq | % | N | Freq | % |
| Undergraduate Women | 5,519 | 1545 | 28% | 4,274 | 625 | 15% |
| Undergraduate Men | 4,821 | 296 | 6% | 3,422 | 78 | 2% |
| Graduate Women | 1,168 | 111 | 10% | 1,511 | 21 | 1% |
| Graduate Men | 1,428 | 35 | 2% | 1,539 | 9 | 1% |
| Sexual Harassment2 | N | Freq | % | N | Freq | % |
| Undergraduate Women | 5,519 | 1534 | 28% | 4,364 | 841 | 19% |
| Undergraduate Men | 4,821 | 451 | 9% | 3,485 | 181 | 5% |
| Graduate Women | 1,168 | 233 | 20% | 1,527 | 95 | 6% |
| Graduate Men | 1,428 | 94 | 7% | 1,552 | 35 | 2% |
| Sexual Exploitation | N | Freq | % | N | Freq | % |
| Undergraduate Women | 5,519 | 352 | 6% | 4,243 | 219 | 5% |
| Undergraduate Men | 4,821 | 125 | 3% | 3,402 | 40 | 1% |
| Graduate Students3 | 2,596 | 30 | 1% | 3,055 | 8 | <1% |
| Intimate Partner Abuse | N | Freq | % | N | Freq | % |
| Undergraduate Women | 5,519 | 785 | 14% | 4,237 | 530 | 13% |
| Undergraduate Men | 4,821 | 348 | 7% | 3,399 | 174 | 5% |
| Graduate Women | 1,168 | 98 | 8% | 1,506 | 90 | 6% |
| Graduate Men | 1,428 | 71 | 5% | 1,537 | 42 | 3% |
| Stalking | N | Freq | % | N | Freq | % |
| Undergraduate Women | 5,519 | 563 | 10% | 4,232 | 429 | 10% |
| Undergraduate Men | 4,821 | 151 | 3% | 3,393 | 109 | 3% |
| Graduate Women | 1,168 | 95 | 8% | 1,506 | 68 | 5% |
| Graduate Men | 1,428 | 27 | 2% | 1,536 | 22 | 1% |
2 In 2021, the questions that asked about Sexual Harassment were incorporated into the CCS for all versions of the survey (student and employee). They appeared before the presentation of questions about other forms of sexual misconduct that came at the end of the survey and that were only administered to students. Due to attrition (participants dropping off as they moved through the survey), more participants responded to the Sexual Harassment questions.
3 Due to small numbers of participants, results for sexual exploitation for graduate students are not broken out by gender.
In September 2022, Provost Russ Moore and Chief Operating Officer Patrick T. O'Rourke charged a task force with reviewing the sexual misconduct survey results and making recommendations about how the campus can develop an integrated and comprehensive approach to sexual misconduct prevention. The purpose of the Sexual Misconduct Task Force is to tap into the knowledge of experts and strengthen engagement across campus to continue to make progress and innovate on our current prevention strategies and practices.
Sexual Misconduct Task Force Report - August 2023
The Sexual Misconduct Task Force convened eleven times between October 2022 and July 2023 to thoroughly review campus data and peer-reviewed research and determine recommendations for reducing sexual harm against undergraduate students. This report is not an exhaustive inventory of all the current prevention and response efforts in place at the university. The purpose of this report is to recommend additional actions that have been identified and endorsed by the task force and approved by CU's Chief Operating Officer and Provost.