Geneseo is one of nine SUNY schools piloting a new Sexual Assault Climate Survey. The survey opened on Oct. 9 and will run for three weeks, ending on Nov. 1. The survey will run every two years. There are two different surveys being administered—one for students to take and another for faculty. The surveys are relatively short and shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes, according to Director of Student Care Services and Title IX Coordinator for Students Tamara Kenney and Title IX Coordinator and Assistant to the President for Diversity & Equity/Director of Affirmative Action Adrienne Collier.
The two surveys have different aims. The survey for students is geared more toward student experience with sexual assault, and the survey for faculty focuses on the faculty familiarity with procedures and if they are aware of resources, according to Kenney and Collier.
The Sexual Assault Climate Survey is being conducted by a third party company—Campus Labs—and will return data without names attached so that responses remain anonymous.
The survey is independent of events that may have happened on or around campus recently, but it is a part of a requirement of Educational Amendment 129B—or as it is often called, “Enough is Enough,—” which was signed into law in July 2015, Kenney said.
“Enough is Enough” was signed into law to be “the most aggressive policy in the nation to fight against sexual assault on college campuses,” according to New York State’s government website.
Along with the SUNY-wide survey, “Enough is Enough” legislation requires higher education institutions to select an assortment of complete procedures and guidelines, incorporate a definition of what is consent and the state’s amnesty approach and increase contact with law enforcement.
Geneseo has also set up a wiki in order to measure feedback for the survey. The wiki is a public document, and Kenney advised people not to post any details that they would not want shared with the world.
In order to create incentive for students to take the survey, every student who participates will be entered into the drawing for one of three $25 gift cards. The cards are to Wegmans, Amazon and iTunes, Kenney said.
After students complete the survey, the college will gain a sense of where to make changes in policy, Kenney said.
“After this survey gauges the climate of the campus and all the other campuses, I think we’ll be able to see which guidelines work best and see which ones we can adopt and alter,” she said.
“While this survey is not mandatory, it is highly recommended,” Collier added.
Kenney and Collier both strongly encouraged everyone to take the survey because it is not time consuming and it can benefit the campus community.
As of Tuesday Oct. 18, there have been 278 employee responses and 746 student responses to the survey, according to Collier.
“We would like to encourage everyone to have a voice in this survey,” Kenney said. “We’re hoping to see, ‘Are there services that we’re missing? Are there resources that we’re missing? What else should we be doing on campus to address this issue?’ We’re hoping for some good feedback and good suggestions there.”