Nearly a third of female undergraduate students at the University of Missouri-Columbia say they have experienced some form of sexual assault or misconduct during their time at the school.
A survey releasedearlier this week by the Association of American University asked more than 150,000 students about their experience with sexual assault and sexual misconduct.
Of the 27 universities and more than 150,000 students that took part in the survey, MU had the third-highest rate.
Ellen Eardley, the Title IX administrator at MU, says she was disturbed but not surprised by the numbers.
“The results of our survey report, at the University Missouri-Columbia are very similar to the numbers we're seeing across the country," says Eardley. "We’re really seeing this as a nationwide problem on college and university campuses”
In the past year, MU president Tim Wolfe has pushed to toughen the university’s response to sexual assault after an investigation into the suicide of former student Sasha Menu Courey.
Courey was allegedly sexually assaulted and MU officials failed to perform a proper investigation according to Title IX law.
Since then, the university has changed its regulationson how sexual assault and harassment are reported. Staff have been given more training and additional funding has been placed in campus resources to support student experiencing assault or harassment.
Esther Honig is a contributor for KCUR. You can reach her on Twitter @estherhonig.
