A summary of the results from Syracuse University’s first campus climate survey shows the majority of the SU community feels comfortable on campus, but minority groups face hostile environments and some employees seriously considered leaving SU in the past year.

The survey featured questions about SU’s climate with a focus on distribution of power and privilege among social groups, according to the survey’s executive summary.

Developed by a committee of 14 administrators, the survey was a response to suggestions from Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence.

The survey was available to students, faculty and staff early February through late March 2016, including a 17-day deadline extension due to a lack of response.

The response rate for the survey was 21.5 percent or 5,617 surveys, per the summary.

The 30 to 45 minutes it took to complete the survey is a factor that may have deterred potential respondents, said Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, senior vice president and dean of student affairs and co-chair of the survey committee. Some students may not have realized they could take the survey, she said.

“Some people still, at the end, were thinking that this was climate as in the climate, temperature climate, which was kind of disappointing,” she said.

Kantrowitz said it would have been great to hear from more people, but she thinks they have a rich data set.

Overall, 3,840 of the respondents — or 67 percent — were “comfortable” or “very comfortable” with the climate at SU. According to the summary, in similar reports from campuses across the U.S., 70 to 80 percent of respondents felt comfortable — slightly above the SU average.

Kantrowitz acknowledged that SU has room for improvement but described its alignment with other institutions as “affirming.”

The survey featured questions on sexual assault, a topic that will be re-assessed every two years, Kantrowitz said.

Of the 5,617 respondents, 714 responders — equivalent to 12 percent — indicated they experienced a form of unwanted sexual contact, with the following groups citing the most incidents: undergraduate students, women, transgender respondents, LGBQ respondents and respondents with a disability.

The majority of respondents did not report any unwanted sexual experience, according to the summary.

Twenty percent of respondents, or 1,160 people, indicated they experienced exclusionary, intimidating, offensive and/or hostile conduct, with differences emerging based on demographic characteristics including gender or gender identity, status or ethnicity.

In similar reports from other U.S. campuses, 20 to 25 percent of participants indicated similar negative experiences, comparable to SU’s 20 percent, per the summary.

Regarding staff respondents, 90 percent, or 1,329 people, indicated that SU is a good place to work. But many employees expressed concern.

The summary showed that 1,182 faculty, staff and administrator respondents had seriously considered leaving SU in the past year, citing financial reasons and limited opportunities for advancement.

Other issues noted by faculty, staff and administrator respondents include: feeling as though there is a hierarchy in the value of voices, an increase in workload without compensation, balancing family responsibilities with evening programming, workload brought home and SU breaks not coinciding with Syracuse school district breaks.

They also expressed concern regarding unsustainable workloads, ineffective evaluations, inconsistent application of the Family and Medical Leave Act policy and low morale among faculty.

Full survey results will be released Friday. Kantrowitz said she anticipates there will be a lot of opinions and perspectives on the full report.

Susan Rankin, the project consultant from Rankin & Associates Consulting — a company that assisted the committee with conducting the survey — will interpret SU’s results at two repeat information sessions to be held Thursday from noon to 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3.

The latter session will be live streamed on survey.syr.edu. At the sessions, Kantrowitz will discuss how the results will be used to better SU’s campus.

Kantrowitz declined to comment on statistics revealed in the summary because she said she hopes a large number of people will attend the sessions to learn about the data.

Additional discussion sessions will take place on a later date for students, faculty and staff to discuss the full results and make recommendations.

“We really don’t want this to be a report that just sits on the shelf,” Kantrowitz said.

Published on October 24, 2016 at 10:08 pm

Contact Taylor: tnwatson@syr.edu