University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2019 Assessing Institutional Response to Sexual Violence on College Campuses: The Relationship Between Organizational Characteristics of Colleges and Adherence to National Guidelines Lisa Macri University of Central Florida Part of the Social Work Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact STARS@ucf. STARS Citation Macri, Lisa, "Assessing Institutional Response to Sexual Violence on College Campuses: The Relationship Between Organizational Characteristics of Colleges and Adherence to National Guidelines" (2019).
Electronic Theses and Dissertations.edu/etd/6353 ASSESSING INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ADHERENCE TO NATIONAL GUIDELINES by LISA M. Rutgers University, 2007 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Doctoral Program in Public Affairs in the College of Community Innovation and Education at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2019 Major Professor: Mary Ann Burg © Lisa M. Macri 2019 ii ABSTRACT This dissertation is a cross sectional exploratory study assessing adherence to the federal campus sexual violence Clery Act and Title IX guidelines among a national sample of (n=94) institutions of higher education (IHE) to determine if there are any relationships between organizational characteristics and CSV policy adherence using a three-part index of compliance: (1). Levels of IHE compliance to federal policies; (2).
Levels of IHE provision of CSV prevention services and programs; and (3). Levels of IHE provision of CSV interim and supportive measures. Resource Dependency Theory (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978) informed the study’s primary hypothesis that an IHE’s reliance on federal financial aid would positively correlate to higher scores on the measures of IHE CSV compliance. Results from regression analyses found a statistically significant (p<.001) relationship between the receipt of federal student aid dollars by all IHE in the sample and the scores on all levels of the compliance measure.
For each federal student aid dollar received, total compliance scores increased by 4 points for all IHE in the sample. Other IHE characteristics, such as the presence of a recent Title IX investigation, were assessed in regard to their relationship to compliance levels. Findings of this exploratory study suggest provisional support for the application of RDT to IHE compliance behaviors regarding campus sexual violence. Additionally, two-year IHE in the sample had statistically significantly lower levels of overall compliance, identifying an opportunity to improve compliance.
Key Words: Campus Sexual Violence; Clery Act; Title IX; Resource Dependency Theory iii For my girls, Sylvie and Olivia, and for Paddy iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank Dr. Mary Ann Burg for being an excellent Chair and mentor throughout this process and for calling me up way back in 2011 and encouraging this mom of two kids under four years old to “just come in for the interview and hear more about the position.” I would not have finished this without your support, expertise, humor and encouragement. A heart-felt thank you to Dr. Sarah McMahon, my committee member, my mentor and my friend.
Your kind words, expertise, and encouragement, as well as your example, has always been a beacon to me and I hope I inspire my students as you inspired me. Thank you to my committee members, Dr. Anderson, and Dr. Potter for providing me with excellent feedback, encouragement and for helping me to get to a great finished product.
I appreciated your input as I completed this defense. To Dave and Cathy Rock, thank you for making sure I kept going and reached my goal of completing this thing! I could always count on Dave to scold me for not writing. To my Mom and Dad, Joe and Sharon Macri, thank you for always encouraging me in all that I set out to accomplish. If it wasn’t for your unflagging belief in me, I could not hold that belief for myself.
To my strong, determined, intelligent and caring girls, Olivia Macri Rock and Sylvie Belle Macri Rock. I know there were times when you missed me because I was at school or sitting for hours scowling at my computer, but for every night I missed tucking you in, I knew when I snuck in to kiss your little sleeping faces goodnight that I was doing this for you. All I v can hope is that I can contribute something that makes the world a better place for you to live in and that you can see that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, even if it takes time. And finally, to my Patrick, never did I imagine that I would be so lucky to have by my side a partner who always encouraged me and never doubted me, even when I doubted myself.
You have been an editor, research assistant, giver of pep talks, full time parent, expert ballet bun- maker, and writing enforcer. Your intelligence helped me to work out the myriad of problems that I faced and your humor and hugs kept me going when I thought that I couldn’t. I share this with you completely because it couldn’t have happened without you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES.
xi LIST OF TABLES. xii LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS. xiii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION. 1 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.
8 Campus Sexual Violence and Federal Policies. 8 Campus Sexual Violence: Definitions. 11 Campus Sexual Violence: Problems Defining and Estimating Prevalence. 13 Legal Requirements Related to Sexual Violence and Sexual Assault on Campus.
16 The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (1990). 17 Clery Act (1990) policy requirements. 17 Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (Title 20 U. 19 Preponderance of evidence standard.
20 Title IX violations and penalties. 22 Criticism of Federal Requirements. 27 CSV Policies Research. 27 Organizational Characteristics and CSV Policies.
28 Research on IHE Compliance. 29 National Institute of Justice Study (Karjane, Fisher, & Cullen, 2002). 29 NIJ findings: Issue 1 definitions of CSV. 33 Issue II: Evidence of policies for CSV.
33 Issue III: Who gets training. 34 Issue IV: On and off campus reporting options. 35 Issue V: Resources for victims. 36 Issue VI: Barriers to reporting.
36 Issue VII: Policies facilitating report of CSV. 37 Issue VIII: Types of procedures for punishment for offenders. 38 vii Conclusions from the NIJ study. 38 Model Template for Compliance: McMahon (2008).
Senate Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight Sexual Violence on Campus Report. 41 Richards’ (2016) IHE CSV Study. 45 Critique and Synthesis of the Literature. 46 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.
48 Resource Dependency Theory. 53 Public Affairs and Social Work Significance of Research. 54 Research Question and Hypotheses. 56 CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
59 Measurement of Study Variables. 62 Policy Index Dependent Variable. 62 Prevention Index Dependent Variable. 65 Coaching Boys into Men.
66 Bringing in the Bystander. 66 Other primary prevention strategies. 67 Sexual Violence Prevention Program Checklist. 67 CSV Interim and Supportive Measures Dependent Variable.
69 viii Research Design. 72 Design Validity and Measurement Error. 73 Coding of Variables. 74 CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS.
76 Policy Score Descriptive Data. 78 Prevention Index Frequencies. 84 Interim Services Index Frequencies. 87 Additional Independent Variable Descriptive Statistics.
90 T-test Comparing Two and Four-year IHE Scores. 92 Simple Regression: Title IV Funds and Index Scores. 92 Additional Tests of Association: Title IV Funds and Index Scores. 95 Multiple Linear Regression Modeling.
97 Regression Model Revised. 101 Mann-Whitney U Test. 101 Results of Hypothesis Testing. 102 H1a: Greater dependence on federal student aid funding correlates with higher levels of policy adherence.
103 H1b: Greater dependence on federal student aid funding correlates with higher levels of prevention programming. 104 H1c: Greater dependence on federal student aid funding correlates with higher levels of adherence to interim and supportive measures. 104 H1d: Greater dependence on federal student aid funding correlated with higher levels of adherence overall as reflected by total index scores. 105 ix H2a: Recent Title IX investigations are correlated with higher levels of total adherence overall.
106 CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION. 107 Compliance Score Subdomains and Descriptive Findings. 115 Differences in Two-year and Four-year Compliance Scores. 116 Implication of Key Findings.
117 Contributions to Social Work and Public Affairs. 127 APPENDIX A – MAJOR CSV PREVALENCE STUDIES. 131 APPENDIX B – LIST OF OPEN SEXUAL VIOLENCE INVESTIGATIONS AS OF 2016. 137 APPENDIX C – KARJANE, FISHER AND CULLEN (2002) NINE NIJ PARAMETERS.
139 APPENDIX D –POLICY COMPLIANCE INDEX (WHTF, 2014). 141 APPENDIX E PREVENTION INDEX (DEGUE, 2014). 147 APPENDIX F INTERIM AND SUPPORTIVE MEASURES INDEX (WHTF, 2014). 150 APPENDIX G INDEPENDENT VARIABLE STUDY ITEMS FROM IPEDS (ED, 2016).
156 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. 54 xi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Four-year and Two-year IHE Included in the Study Sample. Demographic Data and Frequencies for Four-year, Two-year and Overall IHE.
Policy Index Item Frequencies for Two-year IHE, Four-year IHE, and Overall IHE. Prevention Index Frequencies for Two-year, Four-year and Overall IHE. Prevention Index Frequencies for Two-year, Four-year and Overall IHE. Title IX Cases Active or Resolved in Past 5 Years (2012-2017).
Descriptive Statistics for Continuous Independent Variables. T-test Comparing Two-Year and Four-Year IHE on Policy, Prevention, Interim, Total Scores. Regression for Federal Student Aid Funding and Four-year and All IHE by Score. Kendall’s Tau B Results for Two-year IHE and All Scores and Four-year IHE and Prevention/Interim Services Scores by Federal Student Aid in Dollars.
Summary of Multiple Regression Analysis Including All Independent Variables. Summary of Revised Multiple Regression Analysis. Results of the Hypothesis Testing. 103 xii LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS BJS- Bureau of Justice Statistics CDC- Centers for Disease Control CSA- Campus sexual assault CSV- Campus sexual violence ED- U.
Department of Education IHE- Institutions of Higher Education IPEDS- Ntl Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System NIJ- National Institute of Justice NISVS – National Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Survey OCR- Office on Civil Rights RDT- Resource dependency theory WHTF- White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault xiii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION In 1987, Koss, Gidycz and Wisniewski (1987) released the findings of the groundbreaking study, contradicting previous trends found in crime statistics that depicted rape and sexual violence as infrequent occurrences, and instead showing that students at institutions of higher education (IHE), particularly female students, were experiencing higher than previously recorded rates of sexual violence. Nearly two decades later and spurred on by an influx of campus sexual violence (CSV) research, the American College Health Association (2008) recognized sexual violence as a major public health issue for colleges and universities. A study entitled the Campus Sexual Assault Survey (CSA) estimated that among women sampled at two large U. universities, nearly 20% reported experiencing attempted or completed sexual assault while in college (Krebs, Lindquist, Warner, Fisher, & Martin, 2009).
Larger, nationally representative data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) revealed increased risk for sexual assault among college aged women ages 18 to 24 when compared to females in all other age groups (Sinozich & Langton, 2014). Additionally, these data show that from 1995 to 2013, nearly 33% of female college students have experienced a completed rape, 31% have experienced a sexual assault, 25% have experienced an attempted rape, and 11% have been threatened with sexual assault during their tenure as active students (Sinozich & Langton, 2014). Recent research from Fedina, Holmes and Backes (2016) assessing CSV prevalence literature from 2000 to 2015 found prevalence rates of completed rape (oral, anal, vaginal) in up to 8.