Central State College has a very progressive program for preventing sexual assault on its campus. Every incoming student has to take a 1 hour course on sexual and dating violence, and there are monthly programs about prevention and intervention. The college recently opened a 24-hour hotline for victims and survivors of sexual assault. To their dismay, in the first year of the hotline operating, reports of sexual assaults on campus went up by 10%. Administrators are confused as to why their efforts to prevent violence seem to have led to more violence on campus.
Which of the following might explain the rise in reports of sexual assault at Central State?
A Telling students about sexual violence makes them see it as an option, so more male students are committing assaults.
B Having a hotline leads more students to report assaults that in the past may have gone unreported. The actual rate of assaults is likely unchanged.
C As a result of education, students are more likely to classify troubling interactions as sexual assault than they might otherwise have been.
D The facilitators of the prevention program are not effectively conveying the information to students.
E The programs are too infrequent to be effective.
Test guide