Campus Climate Survey 2017-2018
Sexual violence and harassment is an urgent issue on university campuses. Recent federal guidance and possible legislation strongly recommend campus climate surveys as a best practice strategy to help institutions better understand the scope of sexual violence and harassment on campus and develop targeted prevention and response strategies. However, most institutions struggle to implement and use the data from campus climate surveys, and the Educational Advisory Board (EAB) is assisting institutions in addressing this issue with an online survey that can be administered consistently each year, provide national norms and data, and provide institutional and cohort data. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Title IX compliance requirements also mandate institutions to provide campaigning, education, and training to all students regarding sexual violence and harassment. This data will provide feedback on how we can provide additional resources/programming to our campus community.
In support of this initiative, we administered our third anonymous campus climate survey to students via the Educational Advisory Board (EAB) in spring 2018.
Below are a few summarized take-aways and formulated action items based off the spring 2018 survey results. A full report of the spring 2018 results can be found HERE .
Survey Respondent Demographic
- 15% of students participated in this survey.
- Action Item: Consider additional avenues other than email for students to receive and complete the survey (e.g., text messaging).
- Action Item: Consider offering more incentives to participate. There was a 6% increase in respondents on the 2018 survey from 2017, likely due to the use of incentives.
- The majority of respondents were white (64%), heterosexual (90%), and female (65%).
- Most respondents were first (38%) or second (31%) year students.
General Campus Climate
- Nearly all respondents (99%) feel safe at this school and think faculty are generally concerned about their welfare (91%).
- 8% of respondents considered leaving the school, most commonly because they didn’t feel welcomed or supported.
Perceptions of and Experiences with Diversity and Inclusion on Campus
- Most respondents (90%) have positive perceptions of and experiences with diversity and inclusion on campus
- 38% of respondents agreed/strongly agreed to feeling like they needed to hide some aspects of their identity to fit in.
- 14% of students learned about or became more aware of diversity through campus events
- Action Item: Collaborate with campus stakeholders to create intentional programming through Student Affairs events to promote and educate on diversity awareness.
- Action Item: Since the most common method of communication was word of mouth (47%), communication methods for programming may need to be evaluated and refined. Find a more efficient way to communicate to students or allow more to be sent via Org Sync because the most common method of communication has been word of mouth (47%).
- Respondents are most aware of services supporting students with disabilities and gay, lesbian and bisexual students. However, religious and female students were the aware of supporting services.
- Action Item: Evaluate opportunities to create and support spiritual wellness and gender specific programming and services.
Experience with Discrimination and Harassment
- 11% of the respondents reported that someone shunned, ignored, or intimidated them, or acted directly or indirectly toward them in an offensive manner that interfered with their ability to learn and work (once or more than once).
- 100% did not report the incident(s) to the school. 82% reported that the reason was either they didn’t think it was serious enough or feared that it wouldn’t be taken seriously.
- Action Item: Continue to advertise and communicate information regarding reporting options, such as the Trust Line, Student Complaint Form, and the Person of Concern Reporting Form.
- Respondents most commonly reported that the incidents occurred in class (45%) and by a faculty member (44%) or classmate (41%). Respondents most commonly believed the conduct to be based on ethnicity or social class.
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- Action Item: Collaborate with faculty development stakeholders to incorporate trainings, workshops, and resources regarding topics such as classroom management, diversity and inclusion, etc.
Perceptions of Campus Inclusivity
- 84% of respondents have access to a faculty or staff member who they trust.
- In general, most respondents feel issues of diversity and inclusion are adequately addressed across their campus experience.
- 11% have been singled out in class because of their identity.
- Action Item: Continue to advertise and communicate information regarding reporting options, such as the Trust Line, Student Complaint Form, and the Person of Concern Reporting Form.
Basic Needs Insecurity
- 26% of respondents often or sometimes couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals and 22% worry whether their food would run out before they had money to buy more.
- Action Item: Highlight and promote the student food pantry in a more effective way to the student population.
- Action Item: Partner with various offices and departments to create more awareness around serving our student population when it comes to food insecurity.
- Action Item: Add additional food pantry locations on campus
Sexual Violence Prevention and Student Knowledge
- Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all respondents report receiving prevention training or information.
- Most of the respondents (91%) report receiving information or training at new student orientation, campus wide events or class presentations. The number of respondents receiving training in the subsequent years declined.
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- Action Item: As a part of the current programming around sexual violence prevention, we will partner with academic programs to reinforce institutional policies, sexual violence prevention and resources.
Sexual Violence Prevention and Student Knowledge
- Most respondents (94%) are confident that their school would administer the formal procedures to fairly address reports of sexual violence.
- Most respondents believe that their school would take a report seriously (93%) and take steps to protect the reporter from retaliation.
Experiences with Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment
- 2% of respondents experienced at least one incident of sexual misconduct at least one time since the beginning of the school year.
- 31% of respondents had someone make a sexist remark or joke in their presence.
- Action Item: Continue to advertise and communicate information regarding reporting options, such as the Trust Line, Student Complaint Form, and the Person of Concern Reporting Form.
Prior Experiences with Unwanted Sexual Conduct
- 17% of all respondents reported that someone had or attempted to have unwanted sexual content with them prior to going to college.
- Action Item: Increase awareness of sexual assault support services at programming prior to matriculation (i.e. Discover myHSC Day) for students who many want to connect with resources prior to the start of school at UNTHSC.
Community Behaviors
- Respondents generally viewed themselves as more likely than their peers to engage in bystander behaviors. 95% of respondents decide not to have sex with someone if they are drunk, 94% would confront a friend who says they did have sex with someone who was passed out or did not give consent.
Community Attitudes
- 62% of male respondents agreed or strongly agreed that rape and sexual violence can happen unintentionally, especially if alcohol is involved, compared to 39% of women respondents.
- 29% of male respondents agreed or strongly agreed that a person who is sexually assaulted or raped while he or she is drunk is at least somewhat responsible, compared with 10% of women.
- Action Item: Develop programming specifically focused towards sexual violence and alcohol awareness.
Experiences with Intimate Partner Violence & Stalking and Harassment
- 27% of respondents experienced some form of non-violent behavior or harassment from an intimate partner. Mostly in the form of verbal harassment, such as name calling or criticizing them.
- 10% of respondents felt frightened, concerned, angered or annoyed by stalking or harassing behavior, mostly in the form of unwanted phone calls, messages, emails or other forms of written communication.
We will be launching the spring 2019 campus climate survey during the month of April. The survey is titled Campus Climate Survey. All students will receive an initial email invitation and two email reminders during the three weeks the survey is available.
EAB will provide institutional and cohort data to all participating universities by June 30, 2019. Our goal is to distribute the results to the campus in conjunction with plans for additional resources/programming based on survey results.
Our office is prepared to provide any resources needed for students who have emotional triggers or questions about the survey. Contact information for assistance is provided at the end of the survey. Other campus and community resources can be found HERE. If students have additional questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Care and Civility at wellnessservices@unthsc.edu.
2017 Action Item Follow-up/2018 Survey impact
- The 2018 Campus Climate Survey showed a 6% increase in survey response. Following-up from the 2017 action items, incentives were offered for survey completion and intentional and strategic email communication regarding the survey was sent to the student population from the Student Affairs Vice President, Dr. Thomas Moorman.
- All incoming students have continued to receive Title IX training train. This training occurred informally through an orientation presentation and formally through the WeComply platform.
- Each month, the Office of Student Affairs now sends an email to the UNTHSC student population with reminders of sexual assault support resources and reporting options.
- The Office of Care and Civility continued to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, coinciding with the start of the 2018 Campus Climate Survey.
A printable PDF version of the 2017-2018 Campus Climate Survey can be found HERE
View Former Campus Climate Survey Results
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