Institutional predictors of campus sexual misconduct reporting

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Christy Glass responds to calls to consider institutional factors that shape campus climates for sexual misconduct and reporting.

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Institution: Utah State University

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Christy Glass responds to calls to consider institutional factors that shape campus climates for sexual misconduct and reporting.

Image courtesy of interviewee. January 31, 2024

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This video video discusses research by Dr. Sson Cook and a co-author exploring the influence of representation in college leadership on the reporting of sexual misconduct. Their previous findings indicated that increased representation of women in university administrative roles correlates with reduced harassment claims. This video video paper's objective is to specifically assess whether appointing women as college presidents enhances reporting rates of sexual misconduct.

The authors highlight the alarming prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses, noting that less than one-third of incidents are reported due to survivors' fears about the institutional response. They propose that women leaders may foster an environment more conducive to reporting by enhancing trust in the institution and actively promoting preventative measures against misconduct.

The research analyzed data from four-year colleges across the U.S. between 2005 and 2020, comparing reporting rates before and after women were appointed as presidents. Results indicated that the appointment of a woman president significantly increased reporting of sexual misconduct, with notable increases in both the first year following the appointment and over the duration of the president's tenure.

The findings suggest that women’s leadership improves campus climates, making survivors more likely to trust they will be treated with dignity and respect when they report assaults. The study emphasizes the need for organizations to focus on institutional factors and representation in leadership roles to effectively address campus sexual misconduct, rather than continue prioritizing individual-level predictors and solutions. The authors advocate for better recruitment and retention practices aiding increased diversity within leadership as a way to provide a more supportive environment for survivors.

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My co-author and collaborator, Dr.

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Sson Cook, and I have long been interested in the impact

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of representation on organizational outcomes,

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how organizations work.

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We've looked at, the, the impact

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of representation on equity

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and inclusion outcomes, environmental sustainability,

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performance, and, and, and lots of other outcome comes.

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But our goal with this paper was to understand

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how representation in college leadership

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impacts sexual misconduct reporting.

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In our previous work, we found

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that women's overall representation

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in university administrative roles

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reduced harassment claims.

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But in this paper, we wanted to understand specifically

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if women's appointment to the presidential position

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increased misconduct reporting.

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So basically, we wanted to ask, does women's appointment

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as president of a college

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or university alter the campus climate in ways

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that increase reporting?

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And we know that reporting

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of sexual misconduct is a really critical mechanism

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for preventing assault, but also for supporting survivors.

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So reporting is key

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to both holding perpetrators accountable, but also,

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and I think really critically facilitating support

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and services and outreach to survivors.

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So we wanna understand whether

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and how women's representation in leadership can

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facilitate reporting.

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And I think it bears, it bears, saying that sexual

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misconduct on college campuses is,

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has reached crisis levels.

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Uh, today about one in three women in college will

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experience sexual assault,

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and one in four men, according to some studies report,

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having committed sexual violence while in, while in,

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college and at particular risk, our LGBTQ plus students,

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particularly bisexual women

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and gender non-conforming individuals,

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disabled women and women of color.

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Yet, despite the prevalence of sexual assault on campus,

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reporting remains one of the most, you know,

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sexual assault on campus remains one

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of the most under-reported violent crimes in the us.

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Um, and so and so for us, these statistics are unacceptable.

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And we wanted to understand, you know, what's,

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what's happening and, and,

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and what's predicting both, a lack of reporting and,

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and a and a increase in reporting.

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And I think the problem with reporting,

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the reason sexual misconduct is so under reported, is

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that many survivors feel

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that the process itself will be stigmatizing and punitive.

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A lot of students fear that their campuses will handle,

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their assault reports, in a, in a, in a way

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that further exacerbates the trauma

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that they've experienced.

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They fear they'll be revictimized

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by the investigatory pro process,

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or nothing will happen to the perpetrators at all.

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And we understand this fear, this fear

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of institutional betrayal.

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We've seen both, of these outcomes, both the kind

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of revictimization of, of women who come forward

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and a lack of accountability

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for perpetrators on our own campus.

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On the other hand, we know that when students perceive

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that their campus will be supportive of survivors,

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they're more likely to come forward

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and report their assault.

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And we also know from our previous work

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that leadership composition

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and accountability, particularly

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are really powerful mechanisms for shaping the climate

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of an organization.

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So, for example, in other contexts,

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women's representation in leadership has been shown to kind

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of shift organizational climate

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and priorities in ways that reduce the tolerance

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for misconduct in the organization.

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So, armed with these insights, we wanted

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to assess whether women's representation in college

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leadership can alter the climate specifically for reporting.

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And we explored two mechanisms.

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First, we've observed that women presidents,

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women leaders generally face much greater pressure

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and scrutiny to address campus assault

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and are more likely to be blamed

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and held accountable for account related scan for,

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for assault related scandals.

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Uh, we also know that women leaders are,

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just generally not just in higher education,

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but more broadly tend to be associated

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with stronger equity, policies.

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Um, and women compared to men tend

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to have a much broader definition

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and understanding of sexual misconduct.

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So on the one hand, we wanted to test whether

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these factors induce women presidents to kind

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of be more proactive about

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adopting best in promising practices for prevention.

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But we also predicted that organizationally, the appointment

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of women presidents would have significant consequences.

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For example, perhaps greater representation in leadership

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can shift, perceptions of whether

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or not the organization tolerates assault.

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We also know that women's,

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position in really senior leadership roles like the

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presidency, increases the appointment of other women

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and people of color into leadership roles,

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and in a way that can also increase perceptions

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that the institution is less tolerance of bias overall.

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Um, we also know that women's, pre women presidents,

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tend to be associated with greater coordination

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between and among

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Campus units.

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Uh, and we know that especially when it comes

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to sexual misconduct, coordination, cooperation,

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and partnership across campus units can really, make,

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allow for headway in terms of prevention.

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So, taken together all of these factors, we wanted

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to understand if, if this will increase reporting

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by enhancing survivor's trust in the organization

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and by enhancing the organization's kind

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of commitment to prevention.

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A lot of previous research on this topic really focuses at

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the individual level.

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So, for example, there's been a lot of research

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on the demographic predictors of assault,

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the demographic predictors of perpetration.

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These studies focus on, individual attitudes,

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substance use, pure effects, right,

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to determine both who's more at risk of experiencing assault

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and who is most likely to perpetrate violence on campuses.

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And not surprisingly, this individual level focus

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of the research has fed

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individualistic policy approaches to prevention.

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So, for example, most American colleges

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and universities now, have mandatory training,

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that, you know, all students are required to undergo.

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Yet mandatory training has, has been shown

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to have very minimal effect on prevention or on reporting.

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So we wanted to kind of move beyond this,

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this pretty limited though important individual focus

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to better understand the organizational context.

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How, organization organizational leadership

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can actually shape the context

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for both assault and reporting.

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We know there's wide variation across and between

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and among colleges in terms of the rates of reporting,

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the rates of misconduct.

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So we wanna start, you know, we wanna contribute

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to the growing understanding

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that we need a broader institutional understanding

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of this phenomenon, moving away from the individual

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to better understand why some campuses are doing

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better than others.

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We collected data on all four year colleges

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and universities in the US

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over a 15 year period from 2005 to 2020.

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We then compared reporting rates on those campuses

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when a woman was appointed to president, compared those,

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reporting rates to campuses where men were a appointed

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or, or were men served as president.

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Specifically we organ, we, we, collected data

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and analyzed data on reporting rates prior

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to women's appointment on campuses

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where men presidents had had previously served.

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And then we analyzed the impact of

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that appointment on reporting

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one year following the appointment,

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and then during the first three years of,

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of women president's tenure,

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and we compared those reporting rates using a match sample

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of men presidents within the same sample

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of colleges and universities.

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To that point, we actually find that the appointment

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of a woman president is significantly associated

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with an increase in reporting of sexual misconduct.

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In fact, we find, a significant

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increase even in just the first year.

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So, to your point, even in the short term,

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even in the first year when women are appointed president,

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we find a significant increase.

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And this is important because, you know, taking the helm

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of a large institution like a university

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or a college is a big job

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and there's a pretty steep learning curve.

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And so we actually expected to see,

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if we did see an impact, that it would be, you know,

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kind of, it, you know, delayed but emerge over time.

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But we actually find a significant increase in reporting

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even during that first year.

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But significantly, we also see a continued increase in

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reporting over the first three years.

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So, so, so an impact in the first year,

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and then, then a continue, continue increase over the course

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of a woman President's tenure.

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In fact, at every time point,

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our ANA analysis reveals significant differences in

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reporting rates when men versus women's serve

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as, as president.

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And, for us, these findings suggest,

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but they're consistent with our predictions,

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and they suggest that women presidents are associated both

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with stronger campus prevention policies

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and practices, as well as

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a shift in campus climate that enhances trust of survivors,

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and, predicting survivors willingness

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to come forward and report their abuse.

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Our findings really speak to the importance of moving

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beyond individual level, level predictors of misconduct.

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These are important, it's really important

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to understand the individual predictors of risk

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and perpetration, but

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to really get a handle on prevention at the campus level,

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we have to begin focusing on institutional

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and organizational factors that shape the, the climate

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for both misconduct and reporting.

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So for us, an institutional understanding

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of misconduct is really central

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for designing effective prevention policies

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and for creating campus climates that facilitate reporting.

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Again, reporting is not just important

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for holding perpetrators accountable

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reporting is also a critical pathway for making sure

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that survivors can access resources and supports.

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Uh, students who report their abuse show much greater,

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physical and mental health wellbeing over time.

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So we really have to make sure that in order to connect

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survivors with resources

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and supports, reporting is that critical step.

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But we, we can't expect survivors to report

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unless they perceive that the institution

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will address their report responsibly and,

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and with dignity and respect.

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I think second, our findings really speak to the importance

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of representation in leadership.

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Our work, not just in this paper, but,

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but our, our previous work as well shows that the presence

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of women and people of color in leadership really changes

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how organizations work, not just policies and practices

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and, and can composition, but also climate

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and perceived fairness.

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So, by increasing, you know, by increasing the adoption

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of more equitable and inclusive policies

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and practices,

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universities can really enhance both the representation in

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their, in their leadership ranks,

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but also enhance, the, the, the,

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the signals they're sending to key stakeholders

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about whether and how the institution will respond

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when abuse occurs.

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Now, we, we understand

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that campus sexual assault is a really complex problem

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in need of really complex solutions.

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But as long, I think as long as we continue

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to focus on these individual level predictors

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and individual individually targeted, solutions or, or,

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or policies, we're gonna continue to be really

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hamstrung in our ability

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to address this crisis comprehensively.

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Uh, so one, one mechanism, one mechanism,

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one important mechanism according to our work, to,

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to kind of reshaping the campus climate,

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to be more supportive of survivors is to make sure

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that universities reflect diversity, the diversity

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of their student body at all levels of leadership.

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So we really would like

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to see universities foster more inclusive career tracks

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for upper administration.

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We'd like to see universities adopt best practices

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for recruitment and hiring of leaders.

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And we'd really like

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to see universities enhance the retention

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of outstanding women leaders

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and potential women leaders who can really serve on

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that career track that ends in the president's office.

Quick Answers

Women's Leadership and Sexual Misconduct Reporting

00:00:00 - My co-author and collaborator, Dr. Sson Cook, and I have long been interested in the impact of representation on organizational outcomes, how organizations work. We've looked at, the, the impact of representation on equity and inclusion outcomes, environmental sustainability, performance, and, and, and lots of other outcome comes. But our goal with this paper was to understand how representation in college leadership impacts sexual misconduct reporting.
00:00:33 - that women's overall representation in university administrative roles reduced harassment claims. But in this paper, we wanted to understand specifically if women's appointment to the presidential position increased misconduct reporting. So basically, we wanted to ask, does women's appointment as president of a college or university alter the campus climate in ways that increase reporting? And we know that reporting
00:01:07 - for preventing assault, but also for supporting survivors. So reporting is key to both holding perpetrators accountable, but also, and I think really critically facilitating support and services and outreach to survivors. So we wanna understand whether and how women's representation in leadership can facilitate reporting. And I think it bears, it bears, saying that sexual
00:01:38 - has reached crisis levels. today about one in three women in college will experience sexual assault, and one in four men, according to some studies report, having committed sexual violence while in, while in, college and at particular risk, our LGBTQ plus students, particularly bisexual women and gender non-conforming individuals, disabled women and women of color.
00:02:11 - reporting remains one of the most, you know, sexual assault on campus remains one of the most under-reported violent crimes in the us. and so and so for us, these statistics are unacceptable. And we wanted to understand, you know, what's, what's happening and, and, and what's predicting both, a lack of reporting and, and a and a increase in reporting. And I think the problem with reporting,
00:02:42 - that many survivors feel that the process itself will be stigmatizing and punitive. A lot of students fear that their campuses will handle, their assault reports, in a, in a, in a way that further exacerbates the trauma that they've experienced. They fear they'll be revictimized by the investigatory pro process, or nothing will happen to the perpetrators at all.

Impact of Women's Leadership on Campus Reporting

00:03:10 - of institutional betrayal. We've seen both, of these outcomes, both the kind of revictimization of, of women who come forward and a lack of accountability for perpetrators on our own campus. On the other hand, we know that when students perceive that their campus will be supportive of survivors, they're more likely to come forward and report their assault. And we also know from our previous work that leadership composition
00:03:43 - are really powerful mechanisms for shaping the climate of an organization. So, for example, in other contexts, women's representation in leadership has been shown to kind of shift organizational climate and priorities in ways that reduce the tolerance for misconduct in the organization. So, armed with these insights, we wanted to assess whether women's representation in college leadership can alter the climate specifically for reporting.
00:04:14 - First, we've observed that women presidents, women leaders generally face much greater pressure and scrutiny to address campus assault and are more likely to be blamed and held accountable for account related scan for, for assault related scandals. we also know that women leaders are, just generally not just in higher education, but more broadly tend to be associated
00:04:46 - and women compared to men tend to have a much broader definition and understanding of sexual misconduct. So on the one hand, we wanted to test whether these factors induce women presidents to kind of be more proactive about adopting best in promising practices for prevention. But we also predicted that organizationally, the appointment of women presidents would have significant consequences.
00:05:21 - can shift, perceptions of whether or not the organization tolerates assault. We also know that women's, position in really senior leadership roles like the presidency, increases the appointment of other women and people of color into leadership roles, and in a way that can also increase perceptions that the institution is less tolerance of bias overall.
00:05:52 - tend to be associated with greater coordination between and among Campus units. and we know that especially when it comes to sexual misconduct, coordination, cooperation, and partnership across campus units can really, make, allow for headway in terms of prevention. So, taken together all of these factors, we wanted to understand if, if this will increase reporting

Shifting Focus: Leadership's Role in Reporting

00:06:22 - and by enhancing the organization's kind of commitment to prevention. A lot of previous research on this topic really focuses at the individual level. So, for example, there's been a lot of research on the demographic predictors of assault, the demographic predictors of perpetration. These studies focus on, individual attitudes, substance use, pure effects, right,
00:06:53 - and who is most likely to perpetrate violence on campuses. And not surprisingly, this individual level focus of the research has fed individualistic policy approaches to prevention. So, for example, most American colleges and universities now, have mandatory training, that, you know, all students are required to undergo.
00:07:23 - to have very minimal effect on prevention or on reporting. So we wanted to kind of move beyond this, this pretty limited though important individual focus to better understand the organizational context. How, organization organizational leadership can actually shape the context for both assault and reporting. We know there's wide variation across and between and among colleges in terms of the rates of reporting,
00:07:55 - So we wanna start, you know, we wanna contribute to the growing understanding that we need a broader institutional understanding of this phenomenon, moving away from the individual to better understand why some campuses are doing better than others. We collected data on all four year colleges and universities in the US over a 15 year period from 2005 to 2020. We then compared reporting rates on those campuses
00:08:30 - reporting rates to campuses where men were a appointed or, or were men served as president. Specifically we organ, we, we, collected data and analyzed data on reporting rates prior to women's appointment on campuses where men presidents had had previously served. And then we analyzed the impact of that appointment on reporting one year following the appointment,
00:09:01 - of women president's tenure, and we compared those reporting rates using a match sample of men presidents within the same sample of colleges and universities. To that point, we actually find that the appointment of a woman president is significantly associated with an increase in reporting of sexual misconduct. In fact, we find, a significant increase even in just the first year. So, to your point, even in the short term,

Impact of Women Presidents on Reporting Rates

00:09:34 - we find a significant increase. And this is important because, you know, taking the helm of a large institution like a university or a college is a big job and there's a pretty steep learning curve. And so we actually expected to see, if we did see an impact, that it would be, you know, kind of, it, you know, delayed but emerge over time. But we actually find a significant increase in reporting even during that first year.
00:10:06 - reporting over the first three years. So, so, so an impact in the first year, and then, then a continue, continue increase over the course of a woman President's tenure. In fact, at every time point, our ANA analysis reveals significant differences in reporting rates when men versus women's serve as, as president. And, for us, these findings suggest,
00:10:36 - and they suggest that women presidents are associated both with stronger campus prevention policies and practices, as well as a shift in campus climate that enhances trust of survivors, and, predicting survivors willingness to come forward and report their abuse. Our findings really speak to the importance of moving beyond individual level, level predictors of misconduct.
00:11:10 - to understand the individual predictors of risk and perpetration, but to really get a handle on prevention at the campus level, we have to begin focusing on institutional and organizational factors that shape the, the climate for both misconduct and reporting. So for us, an institutional understanding of misconduct is really central for designing effective prevention policies
00:11:44 - Again, reporting is not just important for holding perpetrators accountable reporting is also a critical pathway for making sure that survivors can access resources and supports. students who report their abuse show much greater, physical and mental health wellbeing over time. So we really have to make sure that in order to connect survivors with resources
00:12:15 - But we, we can't expect survivors to report unless they perceive that the institution will address their report responsibly and, and with dignity and respect. I think second, our findings really speak to the importance of representation in leadership. Our work, not just in this paper, but, but our, our previous work as well shows that the presence of women and people of color in leadership really changes

Enhancing Campus Leadership Diversity for Equity

00:12:47 - and, and can composition, but also climate and perceived fairness. So, by increasing, you know, by increasing the adoption of more equitable and inclusive policies and practices, universities can really enhance both the representation in their, in their leadership ranks, but also enhance, the, the, the, the signals they're sending to key stakeholders
00:13:17 - when abuse occurs. Now, we, we understand that campus sexual assault is a really complex problem in need of really complex solutions. But as long, I think as long as we continue to focus on these individual level predictors and individual individually targeted, solutions or, or, or policies, we're gonna continue to be really hamstrung in our ability
00:13:47 - so one, one mechanism, one mechanism, one important mechanism according to our work, to, to kind of reshaping the campus climate, to be more supportive of survivors is to make sure that universities reflect diversity, the diversity of their student body at all levels of leadership. So we really would like to see universities foster more inclusive career tracks for upper administration.
00:14:31 - for recruitment and hiring of leaders. And we'd really like to see universities enhance the retention of outstanding women leaders and potential women leaders who can really serve on that career track that ends in the president's office.

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