Preparation for making sure each student in the residence halls is counted in the 2010 Census is underway at the University of Wisconsin, with measures in place for the Census Bureau to be able to use information from the university if students do not comply.
Students living in the residence halls at UW will receive an Individual Census Report in their mailboxes, UW spokesperson John Lucas said.
The promotion for completing the census will begin in the coming weeks, and the census questionnaires will be given out later this month.
The United States Census Bureau has authorization to obtain student data from the university if they do not return their questionnaires with information, a statement from the United States Census Bureau said.
No one without sworn state authorization is allowed to see the data, according to the statement.
The U.S. Census Bureau is bound to protect any information it would collect from the university, the statement said, and the Patriot Act does not affect the privacy afforded to students under the census.
“In the event we need to obtain administrative record information, we will provide information to the school/dorm contact on our authority to get those data,” the statement said.
Lucas will be behind a lot of the census work done on the UW campus.
While he was unsure how the census would receive information from students who choose to not fill out the questionnaire, Lucas said the census will try to get the best response rate it can.
Lucas said the way the census may try to get a hold of students if they do not fill out the Individual Census Report could be through e-mail or a second form.
The questionnaires will be released the week of Mar. 22, and there will be advertising around campus the week leading up to the date. The aim is to have them released and collected right before spring break.
The questionnaires will appear in students’ mailboxes in their residence halls. There will be tables in the lobby of each residence hall for students to return their questionnaires.
The hours for returning the questionnaires will be flexible, Lucas said. There will also be a sheet to check your name off once the questionnaire is filled out, so the U.S. Census Bureau knows who has and who has not returned their questionnaire.
The finer details of census procedure in the residence halls are still being worked out, Lucas said.
While Lucas did not specifically talk about how the census will be handled in sororities and fraternities, the statement from the U.S. Census Bureau said they would receive a questionnaire in a similar manner.
UW will provide services to all students on campus for filling out the census. Lucas said there would be a special service for students who do not speak English as a first language.
It is for the advantage of the student to fill the census out because that is how federal funding is determined, and the university is financially impacted based on how many students choose to fill out and return the census.
