University Responses to Sexual Assault: An Argument for Survivor-Informed Recommendations

The purpose of this thesis is to propose and make a case for conducting a study at Arizona State University examining survivors’ perceptions and recommendations for the University’s response to sexual assault. The first part of this thesis provides a comprehensive review of existing research and literature related to sexual assault in college, survivors’ help-seeking decisions, available support resources and services, and universities’ responses to sexual assault. The second part of this thesis presents a proposed research study that uses qualitative research methods to examine ASU student-survivors’ views and perceptions of ASU’s sexual assault response and its effectiveness in order to develop survivor-informed recommendations for improving the University’s response to sexual assault. The second part of this thesis includes the methodology, recruitment materials, informed consent form for study participants, survey questions, semi-structured interview questions, general project timeline, and estimated project budget for the proposed study. This proposed study has two primary aims. The first aim is to examine how ASU students, who have had an unwanted sexual experience, view campus support resources and their effectiveness and how they decide whether or not to utilize them. The second aim is to better understand survivors’ needs and help-seeking experiences in the aftermath of sexual assault to address ways the University’s response and resources can be improved based on survivor-informed recommendations.