UA campus safety survey launches Oct. 10
October 5, 2017
On Tuesday, Oct. 10, the University of Alaska will initiate a campus climate survey to
measure how often sexual violence or harassment occurs on UA campuses, and how students
perceive such violence. Undergraduate degree students will receive an email invitation
to complete the survey. The email subject line will be "University of Alaska Campus Climate Survey."
The survey is voluntary and anonymous. Students who complete the survey will receive
an offer for a $10 Amazon gift card. Contact information will not be tied to survey responses.
The survey will help assess issues such as a student’s knowledge about reporting policies,
resources for complainants, attitudes about prevention and intervention, and perceptions
on how the university community is addressing sexual violence, which will provide
critical information to improve campus programs, awareness and prevention efforts.
Conducted over a period of time, climate surveys reveal trends such as decreases in
sexual assault, increases in reporting and increases in awareness. They can identify
particular campus problems, which allows Title IX offices to tailor prevention efforts.
The goal of the survey is to improve safety on all UA campuses and ensure that sexual
harassment and violence incidents are prevented to the greatest extent they can be,
and that when incidents do occur, they are dealt with properly.
Because the survey concerns sexual assault, some of the climate survey’s questions
are explicit and could potentially trigger a response in a person who has experienced
sexual trauma. Each campus has a Title IX office with support resources, counseling
contacts in the community and other tools to help those coping with sexual violence.
A list of resources for the entire university system is at https://www.alaska.edu/titleIXcompliance/.
The survey is being administered by Lindsey Blumenstein with the UAA Justice Center
on behalf of the entire UA system. Annual climate surveys are part of the university's
voluntary resolution agreement with the Office for Civil Rights.