• Home
  • Archive
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
  • May 9, 2025

The Madison Times

The Paper That's More Than Black and White

  • News
    • Local News
    • National News
    • International News
    • Sports News
    • Education News
  • Columns
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Life Lessons with Alex Gee
  • Events
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Lifestyle
  • Classifieds
  • Community
    • Middle Spread
  • Milwaukee

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

About 1 In 4 Of Female UW-Madison Students Say They’ve Been Sexually Assaulted

October 2, 2015

Survey Respondents Say In Most Cases Of Assault, Offender Had Been Drinking

by Shamane Mills
and The Associated Press

uw-madison-female-studentsNearly 28 percent of female undergraduates responding to a campus survey at University of Wisconsin-Madison say they’ve been sexually assaulted.

UW-Madison was one of 27 universities around the country that participated in the survey put together by the Association of American Universities. School officials say about 9,000 students, or about 22 percent of the school’s students, responded to it.

The survey found that more than three-quarters of the women who reported being sexually assaulted said the offender had been drinking.

The results indicate that most students do not report assaults to school officials or police. UW-Madison’s police chief, Sue Riseling, said that 165 cases of suspected sexual assault were reported to school officials last year. Only 9 percent were reported to university police.

This year, about 136 reports of sexual assault were made to university. Only 4 percent of those followed up with police.

Riesling said there are various reasons for why the assaults aren’t reported: The events are often traumatic, and subsequent investigations and trials are a public, often lengthy, process.

“Sexual assault is the most under-reported crime to all law enforcement agencies, whether you are state, municipal, city, university,” she said. “It’s a very common thing across our country that sexual assault survivors don’t feel comfortable coming forward.”

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said that when parents bring their children to college, one question on their mind is safety.

“We’ve done a lot,” she said. “But there’s clearly more work to be done. Sharing what we’ve learned from this survey helps us bring our entire campus community into the conversation.”

First-year students have to complete an online sexual assault prevention program. In addition, there are also student-led efforts against dating violence and stalking, and campus police recently launched a public awareness campaign aimed at potential perpetrators.

© Copyright 2015, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Popular Interests In This Article: Sexual Assault, Shamane Mills, University of Wisconsin, UW-Madison

Read More - Related Articles

  • A Grand Chute police recruit alleged she was sexually assaulted. Days later she lost her job.
  • Why I love UW – The Everett Mitchell Story
  • Poor Police Work Is Letting Rapists Go Free: That Has to Stop
  • Dare2Know Encourages Teens to Use Their Voice Taking Action and Spreading Awareness on Sexual Assault
  • Marquette’s Denim Day 2019 Supports Survivors of Sexual Assault on April 24


Connect With Us

Become Our Fan On Facebook
Find Us On Facebook


Follow Us On Twitter
Follow Us On Twitter

Editorials

Karma Chavez
Amanda Zhang
Julianne Malveaux
Benjamin Chavis
George Curry

Journalists

Jacklin Bolduan
Brianna Rae
Aarushi Agni
Rob Franklin
Claire Miller

Topics

Brown Girl Green $
Young Gifted & Black
Universally Speaking
Ask Progress
Civil Rights

Topics

Police Shooting
Police Brutality
Black Lives Matter
NAACP
Racism

Politicians

Barack Obama
Hillary Clinton
Gwen Moore
Paul Soglin
Scott Walker

Contact Us

Phone:
414-449-4860

Copyright © 2025 Courier Communications. All Rights Reserved.
We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.