This survey is designed to measure the campus climate regarding sexual harassment and sexual violence (sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking). Climate surveys have been identified as a best practice for universities to better understand sexual misconduct on their campuses. Tulane conducted climate surveys in 2017 and 2022.
In November 2021, Tulane hosted a talk on sexual misconduct climate surveys from Dr. Kevin Swartout, Professor of Psychology and Public Health at Georgia State University. Dr. Swartout is a member of the Administrator Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative (ARC3), which developed the climate survey instrument that Tulane utilizes, and conducted data analysis for Tulane’s 2022 Sexual Misconduct Campus Climate Survey. You can view a recording of that event here.
All Tulane students aged 18 years of age or older who were enrolled for the spring 2022 semester were invited to complete the survey. Twenty-nine percent of students completed the survey.
Tulane’s survey instrument was developed by the Administrator-Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative (ARC3). The leading researchers in sexual harassment and violence collaborated with Title IX administrators to create this survey.
The ARC3 Survey was developed in response to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. It was designed to assess the perpetration and victimization of sexual misconduct on college campuses in the United States. Its questions also gather a comprehensive picture of a campus’ climate with regards to sexual violence issues. You can learn more about the survey instrument and ARC3 at the ARC3 website or its Wikipedia page.
The survey has been used has been used by over 300 colleges and universities across the US as well as internationally, including the state university systems of Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, and the entire university systems of both Denmark and Ireland.
This survey is designed to assess perceptions and behaviors related to a wide range of issues regarding sexual harassment and violence that impact Tulane students. With data about our students’ experiences, as well as our community’s perceptions and knowledge around these issues, we can better inform our efforts to end sexual harassment and violence at Tulane University.
Specifically, the following areas are priorities for evaluation:
- Obtain victimization rates of sexual harassment (committed by fellow students as well as by faculty/staff), stalking, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault
- Gather information about victimization rates of high-risk populations including first-year women, students of color, and LGBTQ-identifying students
- Evaluate the connection between incidents of victimization and alcohol use, attitudes of sexual violence, campus organizational membership, and prior victimization
- Assess knowledge of reporting options and support resources
- Collect student perceptions on university resources as well as feedback on how effective these resources were for students who engaged with these resources
- Measure knowledge and use of positive bystander behaviors
Experts recommend that schools trying to measure the prevalence of sexual violence on their campuses conduct climate surveys every 3-5 years.1 Our first climate survey was conducted in 2017. Our second climate survey was originally scheduled for spring 2021; however, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we made the decision to postpone the survey to spring 2022. We knew that truncated semesters, virtual instruction, and COVID-19 protocols in the 20-21 academic year had the potential to compromise our ability to effectively collect data and to impact the data itself. By conducting the survey in 2022, we were able to still stay within the recommended window of 3-5 years, while avoiding some of the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
1 Swartout, Wood, L., & Busch-Armendariz, N. (2020). Responding to Campus Climate Data: Developing an Action Plan to Reduce Campus Sexual Misconduct. Health Education & Behavior, 47(1_suppl), 70S–74S. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120912386
Dr. Kevin Swartout, Professor of Psychology and Public Health at Georgia State University, worked with campus partners to synthesize and analyze the survey data. An executive summary of the findings from the 2022 Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey was shared with the Tulane community in spring 2023 along with an interactive data tool. Informed by the climate survey findings, the All In work group, with input from key campus constituents including student leaders, created an updated All In action plan to further our efforts around sexual violence prevention and response, guided by the following questions:
- What current offices or programs should be ameliorated to improve effectiveness
- What new resources or programs are needed
- What communities are in need of additional programs and resources
The updated All In action plan is included in the executive report.
Tulane's All In website, our comprehensive hub for information about Tulane's sexual violence prevention and response, has information and recommendations for students, faculty/staff, parents/guardians, and others looking to get involved in Tulane's work to combat sexual violence.
Please refer to our resource list here.
Please email sexualmisconductsurvey@tulane.edu. This email account is regularly monitored by staff in the Title IX office.
