The results of a UNM Campus Climate Survey conducted in the spring following a scathing Department of Justice investigation finds that the University still has work to do, as far as student safety and resource knowledge is concerned.
The National Campus Climate Survey assesses initiatives that support an inclusive living, learning and working environment through collecting data that inform university administration and staff about student experiences with sexual misconduct, knowledge of campus resources and available support services.
Of the 3,000 students surveyed, almost 90 percent completed the entirety of the questionnaire.
“We are pleased to get such a good response rate,” said Francie Cordova, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, which contracted the survey. “It’s a chance to hear from our own students, find out what they know and don’t know about sexual violence. We can use this information as a baseline to gauge our effectiveness in training and educating our campus as we move forward.”
While about 90 percent of male students reported feeling relatively safe from sexual misconduct at UNM, only about 63 percent of female students felt the same, according to the report. In addition, just over 30 percent of females and about 12 percent of males reported experiencing sexual harassment over the past year.
The study found that, of all reported cases, about 32 percent of alleged perpetrators were affiliated with UNM. Of those, almost 90 percent were students.
The study also found that several factors play a part in the decision to keep quiet about an incident. Of the almost 60 percent of victims who did not tell anyone about a particular incident, 27 percent did not think anything would come of it and 35 percent felt embarrassed and ashamed, while over half did not think it was serious enough to report.
“We’re especially concerned about the students who have experienced sexual violence but haven’t told anyone else about it; those students are dealing with this potential trauma alone,” UNM's Title IX Coordinator Heather Cowan said in a release. “We want our Lobos to get any help they need, whether or not they make an official report to the University.”
As far as response and action by the University, about eight in ten students felt that UNM takes sexual misconduct complaints seriously, but the report found that only around half of students know where to actually get help on campus if they experience sexual assault or harassment.
These numbers echo the concerns outlined in the report by the DOJ released in April, as well as the areas where UNM most urgently needs improvement.
According to the Department's findings, “UNM’s policies failed to provide members of the UNM community with a clear understanding of...where to report, options for confidential and non-confidential reporting, procedures for adjudication and where to seek help and support.”
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As an example, the report cited the fact that UNM’s Sexual Assault Policy, in effect until May 2015, had not been updated since 1995.
In addition, the DOJ found that the policy was not streamlined, but rather “used inconsistent and confusing terminology, contained multiple cross-references to other policies and provided incomplete information on reporting and adjudication procedures."
In line with that assessment, the climate survey found that just under 60 percent of UNM students are aware of the University’s process to address misconduct complaints, leaving four in 10 students in the dark about where to go.
UNM President Bob Frank reported the findings to the Board of Regents on Thursday morning, saying that compared to 62 other universities that administered the same survey, UNM students have better knowledge of campus resources.
“We plan to carefully analyze this report to help us focus our work as UNM continues to address this serious issue," Frank said in a release. "Sexual misconduct won’t just go away, and it has a terrible social and emotional cost. Tough as it is, I’m glad we are united in our resolve to improve.”
The report found that only about half of UNM students are likely to report a sexual assault incident to the Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Center, opting instead to seek help elsewhere, either because they don’t know who to report to or because they feel more comfortable going elsewhere.
According to the survey, while 54 percent of students were likely to report to the Sexual Assault Prevention Center, 88 percent were more likely to report to local police, and 95 percent to another campus entity.
Only five percent of all students surveyed actually reported an incident to a official agency or office. Of those students, just under one percent sought help at the Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Center while three percent, the majority, went to a separate campus office or department.
Of those students who didn’t make an official report to any office or entity, about 73 percent felt it was not serious enough to report.
Associated Students of UNM President Kyle Biederwolf called the survey "revealing" and said he plans to continue to work with University officials to combat the issue of sexual harassment on campus.
"We are glad that the UNM administration recognized that this issue is a concern to many students," he said. "We welcome their resolve to help improve it as effectively and efficiently as possible."
