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Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act: SaVing Lives or SaVing Face?

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine colleges’ and universities’ compliance with the criteria presented by the Sexual Assault and Violence Education Act (SaVE). Using a stratified random sample of postsecondary institutions (n = 435), we examined university websites in spring 2015 to determine whether schools were meeting each criterion of the SaVE Act. Additionally, we also examined what types of programs were offered for prevention, the accessibility of the information (by number of separations from universities main website). Lastly, we examined how university resources and programs, as well as institutional and student characteristics, were related to overall compliance and the availability of online information on sexual violence programs that institutions offered. Findings showed that only 11 % of schools within the sample were fully compliant with the requirements of the SaVE Act and on average, each school met ten of the eighteen criteria for compliance. Most resources were available within websites that were three to four separations from the main university page. Student population and region were positively associated with whether any programs on sexual violence programs were offered and schools with women’s centers were more likely to offer program/s on dating/domestic violence. Additionally, ROTC programs and larger student populations were positively associated with compliance, while being located in the south was negatively associated.

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Notes

  1. Title IV institutions are those institutions eligible to participate in federal student aid programs (federalstudentaid.ed.gov).

  2. http://thecampussaveact.com/faq/

  3. The Department of Education provides a searchable database from which this information was obtained. See https://studentaid.ed.gov/about/data-center/school/clery-act.

  4. We assessed compliance for the 2013–2014 academic year, which is when the SaVE Act first went into effect.

  5. http://ope.ed.gov/security/

  6. Available at: https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/

  7. Available at: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/store/college_compass.htm (Requires paid subscription).

  8. Available at: https://www.petersons.com/college-search.aspx

  9. Measures to determine compliance with Campus SaVE Act were developed using the definitions found at clerycenter.org/campus-sexual-violence-elimination-act

  10. https://home.campusclarity.com/

  11. http://www.justice.gov/ovw/responding-campus-sexual-assault

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Correspondence to Vanessa Woodward Griffin.

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Griffin, V.W., Pelletier, D., Griffin, O.H. et al. Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act: SaVing Lives or SaVing Face?. Am J Crim Just 42, 401–425 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-016-9356-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-016-9356-4

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