The Juneau Empire published a story [LINK HERE] about the rate of sexual assault at the University of Alaska system statewide. It does not paint a pretty picture, with 1 of every 9 students experiencing unwanted or uninvited sexual contact in the preceding year. But I thank the University for conducting the survey and releasing the results (Although they are required by federal law to do so).
While this action followed last year’s revelation that the University [LINK HERE] was not following its own policies with respect to Sexual Assault among its students, the followup is relevant to the work being done to publicize ACE’s in Alaska and incorporate them into policy at the State of Alaska level, including the University, school districts and Municipal Governments. My initial work on ACE’s began in 2008. I made the Anchorage School District Aware of the study and Jim Sporleder’s work at Lincoln High School in the 2010-2011 school year, and shortly after that, ACE’s discussions started to occur at school conferences.
The survey was done by the Alaska Justice Center, located in Anchorage. [LINK HERE] The graphs are particularly informative. The University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), where I taught for a few years, had the highest rates of students experiencing Sexual Assault and both Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct combined. The overall rate at UAS was second to the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), by .9%. However, the Sexual Assault rate at UAS was over 300% higher than UAF.
I hope the University will take to heart the information contained in ACE’s and begin to incorporate support for traumatized students among its population. I have shared information about ACE’s with Dr. James Johnsen, the new President of the University, and asked that more resources be targeted to studying the impact of ACE’s in the University System. I have high hopes as we continue our efforts to educate the Governor and the State Legislature about ACE impacts in Alaska.
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