A climate survey is a method for assessing the beliefs, behaviors, attitudes and experiences of a group of people in a particular organization or environment. These surveys are a means of evaluating the extent to which individuals can participate freely and fully as a member of the organization or environment while feeling safe, respected and valued.

The University of Chicago is requesting all students to complete the 2019 climate survey on sexual assault and sexual misconduct. The results will be used to guide UChicago policies to encourage a healthy, safe, and nondiscriminatory environment on campus. This survey is an important tool for UChicago to assess current programs and to shape future policies. The goal is to develop programs and services that prevent and ultimately aim to eliminate sexual assault and misconduct on campus.

All University of Chicago students aged 18 and older are eligible to participate in this survey. In order to complete the survey, students must have received an email invitation from Westat, the social science research firm contracted to administer the survey, with a unique link.

The University of Chicago, along with 30 other universities across the country, is collaborating with Westat to administer this survey. Westat is a private research organization and will not use your email address for any other purpose, release your email address to third parties, or keep your email address after the survey period closes.

Participation is voluntary. If you do choose to participate, you may skip any question you are not comfortable answering and may exit the survey at any time.Whether you choose to take the survey or decline to participate will in no way affect your standing at the University. Students may receive reminders after the initial invitation goes out to ensure a high response rate. Because achieving the highest possible response rate is the key to reliability, those students selected for the random sample may receive additional requests to complete the survey. However, no student is under any obligation to participate.

Yes. You can navigate through the survey items using the “previous” and “next” buttons on the survey pages.

Answers are saved by clicking the navigation buttons on the bottom of each screen (previous, next, and save). You do not have to click “save” on each screen, as long as you navigate to the next question by clicking “next.” When you click one of these buttons, the answers on the current screen will be saved and you can close the browser and come back to the survey later to complete it.

However, if you close the browser without clicking one of those buttons on the current screen, your answer on the current screen will not be saved. You may return and complete the survey at any time before the survey closes.

This survey includes sections that ask about your knowledge and beliefs about social situations, perceptions related to sexual misconduct at your college and your knowledge of resources available at your college. The survey also asks about your personal experience with sexual misconduct, such as harassment, sexual assault and other forms of violence.

[This survey includes some open-ended questions which allow you to write a unique response. Open-ended questions will not be reviewed by the data collector. They will be sent “as is” to your institution’s research team for review in July 2019.]

Provost Daniel Diermeier convened a University of Chicago faculty advisory group to determine the design of the survey. They recommended using a census survey design and stratified random sample.

Because it is important to give every student, regardless of your experiences related to sexual misconduct, the chance to tell us about them, the survey is open to all. However, a second purpose of the survey is to learn how often such experiences occur. A random sample gives better estimates of the prevalence of sexual misconduct and related experiences in the student population as a whole.

The results of this survey, which will be made available to the University in late Summer 2019, and will be used to make recommendations for changes to the policies and procedures related to preventing and managing sexual assault and misconduct at the University of Chicago.

The faculty advisory group , University leadership, and University subject matter experts will review the results and will also compare against the 2015 Campus Climate Assessment. An executive summary and will be made available to the campus community in Autumn 2019.

We understand that some students may find the survey language uncomfortable. But it is important that we ask direct and clear questions in order to receive accurate results.

We are trying to get the most comprehensive view on the current state of campus climate surrounding sexual misconduct and we welcome as many perspectives as possible.

This survey should take between 20-30 minutes to complete.

There are no consequences if you choose not to participate in the survey. Individual information on who completed the survey (and who did not) will not be provided by Westat to UChicago. However, if you choose not to participate, your perspective and experiences might not be reflected in the survey results.

When you complete the survey, the link between your survey responses and your email and IP addresses will be disconnected so that no one will be able to link your email or IP address with your survey responses. The results will be presented in summary form, so no individual can be identified. However, if we learn about child abuse or about a threat of harm to yourself or others, we are obligated to report it to the authorities.

Westat obtained a Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC) issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The CoC is issued to protect the investigators on this study from being forced to tell anyone about your participation in this study, even under a subpoena.

Even when a CoC is in place, you and your family members must still continue to actively protect your own privacy. If you voluntarily give your written consent for an insurer, employer, or lawyer to receive information about your participation in the research, then Westat may not use the CoC to withhold this information.

Westat is asking these questions so that it can describe the sample of students who completed the survey, and also so that it can describe how climate and actual experiences differ by race and ethnicity. This will help UChicago target resources to those that need it the most. That being said, you do not have to answer any question on the survey if you do not want to.

Westat is asking these questions so that we can describe the sample of students who completed the survey, and also so that they can describe how climate and actual experiences differ by citizenship status. This will help UChicago target resources to those that need it the most. That being said, you do not have to answer any question on the survey if you do not want to and answering this survey will not affect citizenship status.

By going to the website link in the email received, students will be entered into a sweepstakes to win one of three $500 Amazon gift cards. Students who complete the survey as part of the random sample drawn by Westat will receive a $20 Amazon gift card.

If you have any questions about the study, you can call the Help Desk at 855-793-5324.

If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in this research, you can contact the following office at the University of Chicago:

Social & Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board
University of Chicago
1155 E. 60th Street, Room 418
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone: (773) 834-7835
Email: sbs-irb@uchicago.edu

If you need assistance during the survey, University information appears at the top of each page and at the end of the survey. You can also visit the University’s Equal Opportunity Programs website.

The Office for Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Support is available to speak with students about support and resources at the University of Chicago including accommodations, interim measures, remedies, and disciplinary processes. Please feel free to contact us at 773.702.0438 or titleix@uchicago.edu.

Students can also connect with a UChicago Sexual Assault Dean on Call (SADOC). They are available 24/7 and can be reached at 773.834.4357. SADOCs are confidential meaning they do not have the obligation to report sexual misconduct to anyone else unless they have the student’s consent to do so.

Yes, Student Counseling Service, a confidential resource for students, is available 24/7 and can be reached at 773.702.9800.

There are many opportunities for students to share feedback on these important issues. You may contact any of the resources or University offices listed below.

• Campus and Student Life
• Student Counseling Service
• Office for Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Support
• Dean of Students in the University, Michele Rasmussen
• Associate Provost for Equal Opportunity Programs and Title IX Coordinator for the University, Bridget Collier

University Police

A climate survey is a method for assessing the beliefs, behaviors, attitudes and experiences of a group of people in a particular organization or environment. These surveys are a means of evaluating the extent to which individuals can participate freely and fully as a member of the organization or environment while feeling safe, respected and valued.

Climate surveys can help universities identify populations that feel marginalized or unsupported by the institution, and inform efforts around training, awareness and deployment of resources to ensure that all community members can participate freely and fully in the activities of the institution.

The individuals invited to respond to climate surveys will depend on the specific goals of the institution and the survey methodology that is deemed best suited to meeting those goals. Generally speaking, in order to glean data on prevailing attitudes and beliefs within the organization it is important to obtain a sample of responses that represent all existing sub-groups so that the results provide an accurate picture of what it is like to live, work and study within that environment.