Campus sexual assault climate: Toward an expanded definition and improved assessment.

Abstract

Objective: Campus climate surveys related to sexual violence have become commonplace on college campuses. Despite what their name implies, these surveys have lacked both a clear definition of climate and conceptualization of how climate shapes sexual violence. Moreover, these surveys have largely focused on individual attitudes and behaviors, paying limited attention to campus-level factors that could be targeted to strengthen campus response and prevention efforts. Methods: Drawing on research related to sexual violence and climate assessment in other fields, we propose a comprehensive definition of climate comprising five dimensions-behavioral, perceived, felt, structural, and historical climate. Using this multidimensional framework, we identify aspects not currently assessed by existing climate assessments that have the potential to inform a more comprehensive assessment of climate as it relates to sexual violence. Results: Current climate assessments focus mostly on behavioral climate and perceived climate, with less attention to felt, structural, and historical climate. Addressing these additional climate dimensions would allow institutions to identify and track factors that result in disproportionate burden of sexual violence among students with marginalized identities and help identify prevention targets at the outer levels of the social ecology. Conclusion: A more comprehensive climate assessment may empower institutions to enact programs or policies, foster community norms, grapple with complicated histories, and otherwise endeavor to change their climate to one that effectively prevents and responds to sexual violence.

From Compliance to Transformation: Notes on the MSU Strategic Plan to Address RVSM

“…Second, IHEs must facilitate cross-campus research to identify campus characteristics associated with victimization and with thriving, both for overall student populations and for subpopulations (Tashkandi et al, 2022). As one of the authors has herself argued (Moylan & Javorka, 2020; Moylan et al, 2019), the full power of studying modifiable institutional characteristics requires cross-campus research.…”

Creating a University Strategic Plan to Address Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct (RVSM): An Application of Principles-Focused Evaluation at Michigan State University

“…MSU had participated in the 2015 AAU climate survey, but that survey only included students and focused primarily on establishing incidence and prevalence rates. We wanted to conduct a truly campus-wide survey including students, faculty, and staff that could provide actionable data on prevalence and campus climate more broadly, recognizing the role that campus environments can play in enabling RVSM (Moylan et al, 2021). Given the significant lack of institutional trust in the wake of the Nassar crisis, we recognized the importance of partnering with an outside survey administrator to design the survey, collect and analyze data, and prepare a public report of the findings.…”

Evaluating Efforts to Address Campus Sexual Violence: Developing a Data Ecosystem

“…As evaluators consider how to build data ecosystems on campus, there is a need to consider expanding ideas of what "climate" means. For example, Moylan et al (2021) provide a multidimensional framework of campus climate that outlines an expanded range of areas to assess, including not only behaviors and perceptions, but also structural and historical elements of the university's response to sexual violence. They argue that adding measurement of these dimensions would allow institutions not only to be responsive to CSV, but to proactively recognize gaps in current response and opportunities for improvement.…”