KU to participate in sexual assault climate survey
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas will join 32 other universities participating in a national campus climate survey on sexual assault and misconduct.
Headed by the Association of American Universities, the survey will capture characteristics and frequency of campus sexual assault and misconduct, and it will assess campus climate in a manner that protects student confidentiality and allows for data sharing across universities.
Undergraduate, graduate and professional students will be invited to participate in the survey. AAU will publicly release aggregate results from across the participating AAU universities, and each institution will be provided its own data.
The survey will launch at KU in spring 2019, and all students will have a chance to participate via email. Respondents will remain anonymous, and their email addresses will not be linked, in any way, to their responses.
The 33 universities participating in the survey total 870,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students, so it is expected to be among the largest of its kind. AAU and the participating universities have contracted with Westat, a leading social science research firm, to conduct the survey and analyze results.
KU has conducted a universitywide sexual assault climate study six times since 2012. Data from these surveys are available at oirp.ku.edu/sexual-harassment-survey-results.
Universitywide surveys are just one of the ways KU work to prevent and educate students about sexual assault and misconduct. In 2015, the university created the Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center to serve as the central coordinating office for KU’s longstanding sexual assault prevention and education programming. Additionally, the university’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access is responsible for administering the University of Kansas’ equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policies and procedures.
AAU’s announcement is available online at www.aau.edu/newsroom/press-releases.