Beginning Friday, April 2, all faculty, staff and students—including undergraduates and graduate and professional school students—will be invited to take a confidential survey documenting sexual misconduct. The information collected in the Sexual Misconduct Survey will help Dartmouth foster a healthy and inclusive campus environment, says Kristi Clemens, Dartmouth’s Title IX coordinator.

The work is led by the Dartmouth Title IX Office and is informed by the ongoing Campus Climate and Culture Initiative (C3I), and the Sexual Violence Prevention Project sponsored by the Student Wellness Center, undertakings aimed at preventing sexual misconduct and gender-based harassment and violence at Dartmouth. Students took part in similar campus climate surveys in 2015 and 2017, but this is the first year that faculty and staff will be invited to participate.                                                

“The Sexual Misconduct Survey is an important project for our community,” says Clemens. “We are hoping for a high rate of response despite the challenges we have all experienced in the past year. These data are crucial in informing the practices of the Title IX Office, the Sexual Violence Prevention Project, and a number of other areas of campus committed to reducing sexual and gender-based harassment and violence.”

On Friday, community members will receive an email with an individualized link to a web-based form. Participants will have three weeks, or through April 23, to complete the survey, which will take about 15 minutes. Students who complete the survey will receive a $10 Amazon gift code as additional incentive for completion. Responses to the survey are confidential.

The goal of the campus climate survey is to collect data about experiences of harm and knowledge of available resources and support services on campus, Clemens says. The Title IX office plans to send climate surveys to all student, staff, and faculty member every two years.

“My request to the community is please respond to the survey when you receive it, even if you haven’t experienced sexual or gender-based misconduct,” says Clemens. “This data is incredibly useful in determining the next steps for the office, to identify where we could be providing better service, and in helping us understand what’s happening within our community.”

Questions about the survey can be sent to Clemens at kristi.l.clemens@dartmouth.edu.  For links to past climate surveys, visit the Title IX Office website. 

William Platt can be reached at william.c.platt@dartmouth.edu