UI may see interschool collaboration
By Cindy Garcia
School officials on the University of Iowa campus aren’t the only ones telling students to speak out.
The UI’s ongoing campus climate survey on sexual misconduct — Speak Out — is similar to other efforts across the Big Ten and the country, which may foster teamwork.
The electronic survey, covering sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and stalking, arrived in student email inboxes this week. Tom Rocklin, the UI vice president for Student Life, expects the survey may be administered every year or every other year.
“I hope we’re conveying to students that this is an important issue and we can’t work on an issue if we don’t have data on the issue. We can’t know whether what we’re doing is working,” Rocklin said
Several institutions across the nation already participated in an Association of American Universities campus-climate survey and received the results. The survey found that one in five women are sexually assaulted while in college.
The UI didn’t participate in the survey, although it had the opportunity to do so. Rocklin said the timeline for the survey was too short, resulting in an inability to get necessary stakeholders involved.
Rocklin also said the survey was criticized namely because of its origins: a company that develops surveys but had little input from experts on sexual assault and sexual assault research.
“I can tell you a number of the schools that did the [survey] had the kinds of problems I was worried about like very low participation rates, less than 10 percent in some cases, so I feel pretty good about us waiting and taking the time to develop a good marketing campaign and make sure that everyone who needed to be on board was on board,” Rocklin said.
Another regent institution, Iowa State University, chose to take part in the survey and received its report in September.
“This survey provided an opportunity to collect information on a nationwide scale, and we felt it was important to be a part of that,” John McCarroll, the ISU executive director for university relations, said in an email.
According to the ISU survey report, ISU had a 16.2 percent overall response rate.
“I can tell you in a general overview that the results of the survey are being carefully examined to see if changes in our policies, procedures, and training can be improved,” Carroll wrote.
The UI is not the only institution that chose to opt out of that particular survey.
The University of Illinois launched its own campus climate survey on sexual misconduct on Tuesday. Rocklin and C. Renée Romano, the Illinois vice chancellor for student affairs, pursued their own on purpose to ensure a chance for collaboration.
Romano said Pennsylvania State University also indicated interest in undertaking a campus climate survey.
“We feel like there are possibilities in at least comparing data or doing collaborations,” Romano said. “We may share what we’ve learned, what we’ve done, and what we might do the next time.”
Romano said Illinois felt it could foster better control and involvement than through the survey. Ultimately, the survey was also more expensive.
Although survey response rates could vary, Romano is hoping for at least 20 or 25 percent.
“We just hate not knowing some of these things. We’re hoping our students stick with us because we care about the institution and want to make it better,” she said.
Rocklin expects a report on the UI campus climate survey to come out around April and the results may have an impact on education and prevention efforts related to sexual misconduct.
