UA campus safety survey launches Oct. 10

October 5, 2017

Tori Tragis

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.