A campus climate survey, dubbed the Social Experiences and Safety Survey, will be sent to undergraduate and graduate students at the Athens campus Tuesday.
Ohio University students get emails every day, but on Tuesday they will receive a survey in their inbox that could impact the university for years to come.
A campus climate survey, dubbed the Social Experiences and Safety Survey, will be sent to undergraduate and graduate students at the Athens campus, Christine Gidycz, an OU psychology professor and the co-chair of the campus climate subcommittee of the Presidential Advisory Council on Sexual Misconduct, said.
“It is a survey about our campus climate, not the campus weather, but the state of our campus climate," Gidycz said. "It addresses a number of issues including students’ perceptions of resources on our campus, how administrators and officers communicate about sexual misconduct (and) students’ perceptions of the adequacy of the resources that we have to address sexual misconduct."
The survey also includes questions about students' health, alcohol use, attitudes about intervening, consent and if they have experienced unwanted sexual or physical content, Gidycz said.
“There’s also a section … looking at it if they have already accessed these kind of services, was it helpful?” Patty Stokes, co-chair of the campus climate subcommittee of the Presidential Advisory Council on Sexual Misconduct, said. “So if you went to Counseling and Psychological Services, did you feel like you got what you needed there?”
Stokes, also an assistant professor of women's and gender studies, said the survey is anonymous and will assess the campus as a whole.
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The survey will be open for students to take until April 1, Gidycz said.
The planning for the survey started in fall 2014 when President Roderick McDavis put together a task force on sexual misconduct, Gidycz said.
On average, the survey takes about 30 minutes to complete, Stokes said.
“Our goal is to get every student to respond … of course we know that’s not going to happen,” Gidycz said. “It will have, I think, huge benefits for our campus, potentially for many years to come."
The more students who complete the survey, the more accurate of an assessment of the campus the university will receive, Gidycz said.
“It’s just tremendously important for people to do this so we get an honest and clear picture of what kind of violence occurs here, what contributes to better safety,” Stokes said.
OU is one of many universities in Ohio that is taking part in a campus climate survey.
“The surveys are one component that we’re asking the schools to do in an effort to meet the recommendations that we had in our Changing Campus Culture report,” Jeff Robinson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Higher Education, said.
Some recommendations in the report include using data to guide action and empowering students and university employees to help prevent sexual violence through evidence-based training, according to the department's website.
A total of $2 million through the state's budget for the 2015 fiscal year was allocated to support responding to and preventing campus sexual assault, according to the website. Part of this money went to supporting campus climate surveys.
The survey also includes incentives for students who take it. Those who take the survey have the opportunity to be entered into a drawing for a gift card to either Brenen's Coffee Cafe or Donkey Coffee, Gidycz said, adding that 150 gift cards are available.
About 100 students were involved in focus groups for the survey.
“We wanted to know the focus groups’ responses to questions, like was anything worded strangely or offensive (or) uncomfortable,” Gidycz said.
The results of the survey can then serve as a baseline, Stokes said.
“I know that (students) are bombarded by emails and requests for their time and surveys, but this is not one for them to delete,” Gidycz said.
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