IT’S PATTY MURRAY, NATCH: Senator cites faulty statistic while sucking up to acting education secretary.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., used a flawed — and at this point, discredited — statistic to claim that one in five women will be sexually assaulted while in college.

She used this statistic during her questioning of acting Education Secretary Dr. John B. King during his Senate confirmation hearing, which quickly became a slobbering lovefest for the department’s current actions on combatting sexual assault.

“Dr. King, I’ve been really impressed with this administration’s work over the years to protect civil rights — including promoting education opportunities for students of color, women and girls, students with disabilities, LGBT students — and I look forward to continuing to work with you on those issues, but I wanted to raise one specific issue with you today: campus sexual assault and violence,” Murray said.

She didn’t follow this up with any kind of critical question, instead devoting time to suggest that 20 percent of women are sexually assaulted in college.

“It’s a growing national crisis and depending on the survey, we know that at least one in five women are being sexually assaulted on our college campuses. That’s stunning. One in five of our daughters, granddaughters, sisters, loved ones are being sexually assaulted while in college,” Murray said. “That is by the way the lowest of the estimates out there, which is really appalling and unacceptable.”

First, it’s not a “growing national crisis” because it’s not a national crisis at all. Rape and sexual assault are terrible when they happen, but they are not occurring at the levels believers like Murray claim. The studies cited by Murray and others are self-reported surveys, possibly the least reliable method of studying something.

Also, the surveys use broad definitions of sexual assault to punch up the numbers, including everything from a stolen kiss to rape. They also have low response rates, are not nationally representative and can’t be applied to the population at large.

The biggest problem with the surveys, however, is the fact that those labeled as victims by the researchers don’t even see themselves as such. When asked why they didn’t report, more than 70 percent of respondents say it was because they didn’t think the situation was serious.

It’s a national crisis, it’s just not serious.