Officials are pleased with student participation during campus climate survey day.
Professors were encouraged by officials to set aside time to allow students to complete the survey in class on April 6. The anonymous climate survey gives students an opportunity to report any positive or negative feedback they have for OCU regarding the campus climate for unwanted sexual contact and sexual assault.
In past years, students were reminded via email to take the Climate Survey for a month,
Kelly Meredith, director for institutional research, organized Climate Survey Day and said it was best to dedicate one day to the survey.
“Given the topic of the survey, we wanted it to coincide with Sexual Assault Awareness Week,” she said. “We thought that doing it all in one day instead of having a month of emails would be easier on students and less obnoxious, and it would hopefully get better response rates as well.”
Hudson Moore, mass communications sophomore, said he appreciated that.
“I think it’s always a great idea to be mindful of the students’ time and their email inboxes,” he said. “Making it just one day was really helpful.”
More responses came in this year than in previous years, but she still would like to have more responses, she said.
The purpose of the climate survey is to identify the campus culture. Questions included
- How likely are your friends to walk you home at night on campus?
- How often do you hear negative remarks about someone based on their gender?
The climate survey also asked questions about individual sexual assault experiences without compromising confidentiality. It asked students if they ever encountered OCU’s direct response to an assault situation, and if the school met the needs and expectations of the student within that situation.
Although relatively few sexual assault incidents are reported, the survey reflects that most students are pleased with university responses and processes in such situations, said Meredith.
Meredith said she plans to host climate survey day next year.
“Having one day set aside gets more students involved in the established process and makes them more inclined to participate in the study,” she said.
Next year Meredith would like to add a diversity element to the survey to ask about OCU’s attention to inclusivity, she said.
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