The University of Wisconsin is one of many schools participating in the Association of American Universities’ national climate survey addressing sexual assault on campuses with the hope of better services and treatment for those affected by sexual assault.
After a call of action from the White House last year, AAU will be giving this survey to take a closer look into particular variables such as response rates and possible trends, Jeanette Kowalik, Director of Prevention Services and Campus Health Initiatives at University Health Services, said.
She added that AAU will also look to provide a way in which schools can better understand the data they produce.
“The survey will document the frequency and characteristics of campus sexual assault and sexual harassment and assess campus climate in a way that allows for a comparability of data across institutions as well as protecting the confidentiality of respondents,” Kowalik said.
Along with these documentations, AAU will also try to provide schools with recommendations in regard to policy, practices and services, as well as recommendations that can contribute to future research, Kowalik said.
The increase in data will better track the magnitude of sexual assault and violence on campus, Kowalik said.
Starting April 13, all degree-seeking graduates will be emailed a link directing them to the survey, which they will have three weeks to complete, Kowalik said. The results will be highly confidential and voluntary, allowing students who aren’t able to complete the survey to utilize other services that can provide further assistance, she said.
The survey tool is “based on an instrument developed by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault,” Westat, the contracted research firm for AAU, said in a statement.
Because the universities will all use the same survey tool, the results will be comparable.
Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf will form a Sexual Assault Climate Survey Task Force to analyze the survey results and make recommendations to UW, the statement said.
