Expected to be among the largest of its kind, the survey will be in the field spring 2019.
The Association of American Universities today announced 32-member universities and one non-AAU university will participate in its national campus climate survey on sexual assault and misconduct. The survey will be launched in spring 2019.
The 2019 study is a follow-up to the landmark 2015 AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct, which surveyed over 150,000 graduate, undergraduate, and professional students across 27 universities. The 33 universities participating in the 2019 survey total over 870,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, so it is expected to be among the largest of its kind. AAU and the participating 33 universities have contracted with Westat, a leading social science research firm, to conduct the survey and analyze survey results.
“Our primary goal is student safety,” said AAU President Mary Sue Coleman. “AAU universities are committed to protecting students and we believe this survey will contribute to the growing body of research on this topic to better inform campus policies and procedures.”
“As university leaders and as academics, we believe that one of our best courses of action to better address sexual assault and misconduct is with data.” She added, “I’m incredibly proud to play a small part in a large, collective effort to protect students better and provide the best possible learning environment.”
The AAU universities participating in the survey are:
- Boston University
- Brown University
- California Institute of Technology
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Case Western Reserve University
- Harvard University
- Iowa State University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Northwestern University
- Rice University
- Stanford University
- Texas A&M University
- The Johns Hopkins University
- The Ohio State University
- The University of Arizona
- The University of Chicago
- The University of Kansas
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- The University of Wisconsin-Madison
- University of Florida
- University of Michigan
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- University of Missouri
- University of Oregon
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Rochester
- University of Southern California
- University of Virginia
- Vanderbilt University
- Washington University in St. Louis
- Yale University
Non-AAU participating university:
- Georgetown University
Nearly all AAU universities not participating in the survey are either carrying out their own surveys or participating in state university system surveys.
A team of university experts and Westat is developing the survey, based on the 2015 AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. The survey will capture characteristics and frequency of campus sexual assault and misconduct and assess campus climate in a manner that protects student confidentiality and allows for data sharing across universities. Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students will all be invited to participate in the survey. AAU will publicly release aggregate results from across the participating AAU universities. Westat will provide each institution its own data and each will decide how best to share those results.
The university survey design team includes co-chairs Dr. Lily Guillot Svensen, Associate Director of Institutional Research at Yale University and Dr. Christina Morell, Associate Provost and Director of Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies at the University of Virginia. The design team includes researchers, practitioners, and administrators with expertise in survey research, sexual assault, gender issues, student affairs, Title IX, and other related topics.
Dr. David Cantor, Vice President and Associate Director at Westat, a nationally recognized expert in survey methodology leads the team with support from Dr. Bonnie Fisher, an expert in sexual assault at the University of Cincinnati.
Founded in 1900, the Association of American Universities comprises 62 distinguished institutions that continually advance society through education, research, and discovery.
Our universities earn the majority of competitively awarded federal funding for academic research, are improving human life and wellbeing through research, and are educating tomorrow’s visionary leaders and global citizens.
AAU members collectively help shape policy for higher education, science, and innovation; promote best practices in undergraduate and graduate education; and strengthen the contributions of research universities to society.