BY EVE TAFT AND ASHLEY PARENT, STAFF WRITERS

Augsburg’s Sexual Misconduct Awareness Raising Team (SMART) wants to answer your questions about consent! We will be answering the questions biweekly in the ECHO.

This week, we’re going to be answering a question we received last year: “What are the statistics on sexual violence in Minnesota?”

According to the Minnesota Department of Health’s most recent study (in 2005), 61,000 people were sexually assaulted in the state of Minnesota. In total, there were 77,000 sexual assaults because some respondents were assaulted multiple times.

Of those assaulted, four out of five were female.

According to a report from the “Star Tribune,” in 2015 there were 294 incidents of sexual assaults on college campuses. Of these, only 164 were investigated, and in only 68 cases was the perpetrator found responsible.

These statistics are deeply sobering. Raising awareness about these issues is part of SMART’s mission, and you can get involved by coming to our meetings, learning how to be an active bystander, standing with survivors, and spreading the word that Auggies get consent.

Questions for SMART’s monthly column can be submitted to tafte@augsburg.edu. They will be printed anonymously and kept confidential.

SMART meets every other Monday in OGC 100 from 7 p.m.–8 p.m., and we hold recap meetings in the Marshall Room during chapel time on the first Wednesday of every month. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for upcoming events. You can also email tafte@ augsburg.edu to get on our email list.

This article first appeared in the Friday, October 13, 2017, Edition of The Echo.