'1 in 5' supporter tries, fails, to defend statistic

University of Oregon psychology professor Jennifer Freyd this week defended a survey from the Association of American Universities purporting to show that between 1-in-4 and 1-in-5 women have been sexually assaulted in college. Freyd discounted criticism of the study, suggesting critics aren’t objective (as if surveyors like her are) and that they pulled their criticism out of nowhere.

“[M]any critics, seemingly unwilling to believe that sexual assault can be so widespread, raise only questions that suggest an overestimate of the rate of campus sexual violence,” Freyd writes at the Huffington Post. “That is understandable as an advocacy tactic. But they would be more believable if there is some basis for the criticisms that are made.”