About 1 in 7 women attending the University of Hawai'i-Hilo was sexually abused during their college years, with most of the incidents occurring off campus, says a new survey.

The findings are included in the first Student Survey on Sexual and Relationship Violence conducted by the University of Hawai'i system. The survey, obtained by The Associated Press, is to be released tomorrow.

About 2,000 students representing all UH campuses responded to the survey commissioned by university President David McClain in collaboration with the UH Commission on the Status of Women. Students were asked about incidents occurring on and off campus, only during their years at the school.

"The survey shows sexual and relationship violence is a problem everywhere in our state," McClain said in an interview. "The intensity of the problem varies by campus, but it's clearly an issue everywhere."

Christine Quemuel, the director of the Women's Center at Manoa who supervised the study, said with the new data, administrators now have a benchmark to help determine the effectiveness of new initiatives and programs.

The study will be conducted every three years. Before the survey, the university relied on national studies, which gathered statistics of reported crimes only, while most abuse goes unreported.

The survey was conducted in various classrooms and the responses were anonymous.

Students who attend the two Big Island campuses reported the highest ratio of partner violence, rapes and sexual abuse. At UH-Hilo, 14 percent of the 164 women surveyed said they were sexually assaulted. More than 5 percent reported being raped and 20 percent experienced violence.

About 14 percent of men also indicated they were victims of domestic violence.

At Hawai'i Community College, more than 6 percent of women reported they were raped and 5 percent indicated they were sexually abused. More than one in five said they were victims of domestic violence.

Keith Miser, vice chancellor for student affairs at UH-Hilo, said he was uncertain why the numbers were higher for his students. But he wasn't surprised by the figures since he has worked with students for years and heard their stories.

"I was disappointed, hoping our numbers would not be as high as the survey reported," he said.

Quemuel said that in the vast majority of cases, victims knew their attackers.

"There is an overarching myth in our society in general that it's a stranger in the bushes," Quemuel said. "The reality is that it's going to be your neighbor, a family member, a friend, another student you studied with."

The survey found that few students report incidents to police, campus security or faculty. For example, of the eight Manoa women who said they were raped, only two filed reports.

McClain said the results show a need for increased awareness, particularly among young women. McClain is a father of three daughters, one of whom attends graduate school at Manoa.

"I talk to her a lot about what goes on in her life," he said. "As a parent, I can tell you this is an issue in the community. This is going on and it needs to stop."

Louise Pagotto, chairwoman of the university's Commission on the Status of Women, said it was important to find out what was going on across the campuses.

There are 50,000 students in the system, with 20,000 at the flagship Manoa campus and 26,000 in community colleges.

"People need to understand it's not OK to do this kind of thing. And it's not OK to put up with this kind of thing," Pagotto said. "We can change laws, and we have, but changing attitudes takes a long time."

McClain said he hopes the survey will raise awareness and encourage more victims to come forward.

"The more light you shine on this issue, the more you find that people are willing to start reporting," he said. "So we would not be at all surprised if the incidents of reported sexual and relationship violence increases, because people will feel appropriately emboldened to say, 'Hey, this happened to me.' "