By Kyle Bigelow

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According to data from the Campus Attitude Toward Safety (CATS) survey released Aug. 31, one in 20 students were sexually assaulted last year, and most were unlikely to report it.

Students’ reactions to the startling 4.9 percent of respondents who indicated in the survey they had been sexually assaulted range between disturbed and contemplative.

“It’s definitely shocking,” said Stephanie Obieroma, a political science junior. “I think the university should probably come up with some programs to prevent these sorts of incidents, but students should take proactive steps themselves.”

See results of the CATS survey here

Although more than half of students surveyed knew basic procedures for reporting to UK — and 94 percent responded that they felt UK cared about the safety of its students — two-thirds of victims remained reticent to report sexual assault to campus programs or police.

“The main reasons seemed to be personal reasons,” said Dr. Diane Follingstad, director of the Center of Research on Violence Against Women, in a press conference. “Students say most often, ‘I wanted to forget about it. I just want to put it away.’”

Follingstad said first-year students are especially vulnerable, and a more nuanced analysis of their demographic will be released in a final report later this year.

“I think that there’s a certain climate of … hostility,” sociology department manager Justin Conder said. “When they don’t have people they can trust I think that leads to a culture of victimizing people.”