Major US Colleges Distribute Campus Sexual Assault Survey Amid Conflict of Interest Concerns

A group of major U.S. colleges and universities rolled out a survey to gauge how they are responding to students' complaints of sexual assault.

According to the Huffington Post, the release of the Association of American Universities' (AAU) survey came amid heavy criticism from at least one researcher who suggested it was rushed out. Among the 28 schools that distributed the survey were Yale, Dartmouth, Southern California and Michigan State.

"Given what [AAU President] Hunter Rawlings said in terms of using this opportunity to get ahead of federal mandates, it doesn't seem that the survey is being conducted for the purpose of understanding, but in terms of checking the box off in terms of compliance," Sarah Cook, a researcher and associate dean of the honors college at Georgia State University.

AAU collaborated with the survey firm Westat to spread among a number of U.S. institutions. Only five questions will be specific to each school's campus, but the rest of the survey is uniform, AAU said in a news release.

"Sexual assault is unquestionably one of the most important and complex issues our campuses face," Rawlings said in the release. "The first priority for our universities is the safety of their students. That is paramount. Universities also have a responsibility to ensure that adjudicatory processes are trustworthy and fair.

"We are pleased to have a respected firm such as Westat helping us with this climate survey. We believe Westat will bring deep and substantive experience and expertise to this challenging initiative."

The AAU survey comes ahead of one the Obama Administration and lawmakers have been developing as part of his campus sexual assault reform campaign. One of Cook's main criticisms has been the AAU's apparent lack of an independent Internal Review Board (IRB). While some schools taking part in the survey told the HP they will use Westat's IRB, a number also said they would use their own and some did not comment.

"It is very hard to go to each individual IRB, which could all make requests for changes, so it does make sense for them to go through one IRB," Cook said. "One thing that may seem a little odd, though: How can a research firm go through its own IRB? Don't they have a conflict of interest? It should be independent."