Ohio State participates in national campus climate survey

Students at The Ohio State University will be asked to take an anonymous online climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct next month. The results will be used to guide policies to encourage a healthy, safe and nondiscriminatory environment at Ohio State.

Ensuring a safe and healthy campus climate is Ohio State’s top priority. As part of the university’s ongoing work to assess and address the issue of sexual violence, information collected through the survey will allow Ohio State to enhance support and services as well as to benchmark its efforts against national peers.“

Addressing sexual assault and misconduct requires our entire community working together, and our students are a critical voice in this conversation,” said Kellie Brennan, Ohio State’s Title IX coordinator. “We want to make every effort to ensure that our programs and support services reflect the needs and concerns of those most directly impacted by these issues.”

The survey will be available to Ohio State students between April 6 and April 27.Participation is voluntary, and once the survey is submitted, responses are completely anonymous. Results are expected in the fall and students will continue to be a part of the discussion going forward.

“Ohio State is encouraging broad student participation to provide results that allow the university to focus on programs and resources that will be most helpful to the greatest number of students,” said Brennan.

The survey will be administered by Westat on behalf of the Association of American Universities, of which Ohio State is a member. Including Ohio State, 27 institutions are participating in the survey. According to the AAU, the participating universities total more than 800,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. The survey is expected to be among the largest ever on sexual assault.

Participating in the national AAU survey will provide Ohio State with additional data that can be used to enrich the university’s already robust programs and services.

In addition to Ohio State being wholly supportive of the effort, this survey is also a
requirement from the agreement Ohio State signed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in Sept., 2014. The university is required to complete a survey of this nature every year for three years.