The University of Iowa will conduct a campus climate survey to examine sexual misconduct occurring on campus, including sexual harassment, dating violence, stalking, and sexual violence. 

All degree-seeking undergraduate, graduate, and professional students will receive an email invitation to complete the Speak Out Iowa online survey on Monday, Oct. 26. The survey will be open through Friday, Nov. 20 and will ask about knowledge, opinions, and beliefs about subjects such as campus policies and resources, perception of the campus climate, and the prevalence of sexual misconduct. Participation is voluntary, and responses are anonymous. All UI students are encouraged to participate.

“Working to help prevent sexual misconduct is a very important issue for the UI,” says Tom Rocklin, vice president for student life. “The information gathered from this survey will be used to support our work to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our students and community.”

The instrument being used for the Speak Out Iowa survey is the ARC3 Survey (Administrator Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative Survey), which was created by a group of experts committed to using the most current, empirically-supported measures. The Speak Out Iowa survey has been slightly modified to reflect issues important to the UI campus, and members of the Anti-violence Coalition and student leaders played active roles in providing feedback and assessing its content. It will be administered by a subcommittee of the Anti-violence Coalition and is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Student Life and the Chief Diversity Office.

Survey results will be made public in the spring of 2016 and used to inform the UI’s ongoing efforts to address sexual misconduct on campus. The survey is anonymous, and no identifying information will be reported.

“The climate survey will assist in our prevention work and in our efforts to support survivors and hold offenders accountable,” says Monique DiCarlo, UI sexual misconduct response coordinator, deputy Title IX coordinator, and chair of the Anti-violence Coalition. “The UI has a committed team working collaboratively to prevent sexual misconduct and violence, and there is absolutely no place for these actions on our campus.”