Prof. Karen V. Hansen (SOC) and Sara Wooten (GRAD), a master's student in Sociology and Women's and Gender Studies at Brandeis, have been conducting a study that seeks to investigate the incidence of rape and assault against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer college students in the Boston area and to assess the efforts undertaken by higher-learning institutions to prevent incidents of reported sexual violence, according to the survey's webpage. In an e-mail to the Justice, Wooten wrote that her research is a pilot study that she hopes will be the foundation for a longer, possibly national study next year.

During her undergraduate career at Purdue University, Wooten worked extensively in anti-rape initiatives and LGBTQ nonprofit activist circles, and she noted that sexual violence in higher education goes almost wholly unnoticed. "Sexual violence in higher education is pervasive and almost completely under the radar," Wooten wrote.

It was during her time at Purdue that Wooten noticed that most of the research and literature devoted to campus rape focused primarily on the experiences of white, heterosexual women, she said.

Wooten wrote that she began to wonder about students who may not have had a lot of visibility or access to the same resources as the more privileged, white, heterosexual students on campus-predominantly the lesbian, gay, transgender and queer communities.

Her active involvement in LGBTQ nonprofit activist circles is the main reason this study is focused around that particular community, she wrote.

According to Wooten's e-mail, the preliminary results of the study have revealed that a significant number of LGBTQ students have experienced some form of sexual violence during their college years, be it unwanted sexual contact, sexual assault and/or rape.

According to the first phase of data collection, approximately one in five LGBTQ students who have taken the survey have answered that they have been sexually assaulted at least once and often multiple times, Wooten wrote.

In an interview with the Justice, Hansen discussed her own involvement in the study: "[Wooten] asked me to be her adviser, and so I have been from the beginning."

When asked what Wooten expected to see in terms of results, Hansen responded, "She didn't have a predetermined sense of what people would say, but she wanted to know what people's experience were."

"The way she's designed the survey, it's not a random collection of information. . It's not a random representative sample, but it is an important gathering of information that will be valuable to institutions as well as to people in general," Hansen said.

When asked what she hopes to see accomplished from this study, Wooten wrote, "[T]he schools involved in this study take the results seriously and address whatever changes need to be made to ensure the safety and well-being of their LGBTQ students."

Wooten also hopes to see more research conducted on the issues of violence in higher education and how that violence particularly affects specific student groups, according to her e-mail.

She noted how awareness of sexual violence could be raised on college campuses through discussions between students, administrators and faculty and emphasized the importance of talking about the reality of the issues.

Wooten suggested a Sexual Violence Awareness Week, co-organized by various student groups and organizations on campus such as the Intercultural Center, Triskelion and the Women's Studies Research Center.

Wooten also stressed the significance of ensuring that every student has access to, and feels safe accessing, the resources that are available to help them through these situations.

In response to the study, University student Alexandra Zelle Rettman '14 said in an interview with the Justice, "Hopefully this study will raise awareness and open up resources that weren't available or weren't being utilized to the LGBTQ community at large, because it's important for everyone to feel safe in their environment."

"There is so much that we do not know about this problem and working against it is absolutely critical. Students have a right to be free from abuse while obtaining an education. They have a right to be heard and helped to the fullest extent possible when that abuse does occur," Wooten wrote.