Here are the details on the campus sexual misconduct survey UNC sent you today

UNC will participate in the national 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct, according to an email sent Tuesday from the Provost's office to the University community.

“Sexual misconduct continues to be an extremely concerning issue for communities worldwide, including our college campuses. Every opportunity the University has to better understand the experiences and perspectives of students helps us identify ways that we can further strengthen prevention programs and response systems for sexual assault, harassment, interpersonal violence and stalking," interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Christi Hurt said in a statement. 

UNC will be one of 33 universities nationwide to participate in the survey, which is run by the Association of American Universities.

The survey, which will be sent to students in an email from a social science research firm called Westat on Feb. 7, asks about student experiences and opinions on the atmosphere around sexual misconduct on campus. It is intended to give the participating universities a better view of what occurs on their campuses. The survey will be open until March 8

“The 2019 survey is unique because it provides us with key insights into the needs of our campus community and provides the opportunity to conduct a long-term analysis to see how our campus is evolving over time,” Hurt said.

The University also participated in the first Campus Climate Survey in 2015, in which 12.9 percent of 5,212 student respondents indicated they had experienced at least one type of sexual assault, according to the Safe at UNC website. 

“I think any data is always useful, now especially, to learn what the particular attitudes and experiences of our students always can help drive programming,” said Katie Nolan, associate director of Title IX Programs and Special Projects. 

Nolan said many of the questions are the same, which will help for comparing the results of the two surveys. She emphasized how important the results — which will be released in fall 2019 — are going to be in improving the programs Carolina has.

One of these programs is HAVEN, a collaboration between the Equal Opportunity & Compliance Office, the Carolina Women’s Center, the Office of the Dean of Students and Student Wellness.

"It provides students, faculty, staff and postdoctoral fellows with tools to be an ally to someone who has experienced sexual or interpersonal (relationship) violence or stalking. Programs like HAVEN help raise awareness throughout the University community about resources, reporting, appropriate care and support options available to students at Carolina,” UNC’s Title IX Compliance Coordinator Adrienne Allison wrote in an email to the DTH. 

Allison said she wasn’t sure how the results might impact the program, but she, like Nolan, is very willing to use research to improve the project.

“We are always looking at the needs of our campus as well as emerging research and data to help inform the effectiveness of our training programs,” Allison wrote. 

Other programs at UNC that will benefit from the survey include One Act, Delta Advocates, Safe Zone and Education 101: First Year Thriving.

In addition to the questions that were on the 2015 survey, Nolan said there will be questions about bystander intervention, attitudes, social norms and reasons for students not reporting sexual assault. 

“I think all of the universities agreed that we wanted to know more about that,” Nolan said.

The survey is optional and confidential, but students are encouraged to participate because of how helpful it will be to the University, Nolan said.

“I think that this is an important opportunity for students to be heard and for that information to be used by the administration to assess our existing programs on campus to see if they’re meeting the needs of the students,” Nolan said.

Nolan also pointed out that by participating, students will be contributing to increasing research nationally. 

“It will allow UNC students to be part of a national conversation that’s going on right now," Nolan said. "All the data from UNC is going to be added to this national data that can give us not only data about our campus, but what’s going on nationally, and I think that’s really important." 

@StephaneeMayeer

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