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Kaele Culver

Sam Schmitt
SOC 5330: Sex and Sexuality
5 May 2017

Producing Effective Programming:

A Study of Campus Climate Surveys and Sexual Violence Prevention Programming

Organization

I volunteered with the Hamline Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force, which bled over

to a lot of work with our Title IX office. The Task Force was created in 2015, and seeks to create

a group representative of different facets on campus to create and coordinate policies,

procedures, and programming for prevention. Ideally, this work reflects an expectation of

nonviolence, respect, safety, and care for all members of the Hamline community.

Title IX is an amendment that was signed into law on June 23rd, 1972. It originally

prohibited sex discrimination in any educational program or activity receiving any type of

federal financial aid. It is most known for its work in allowing women to participate in

collegiate athletics at an equal level to men; however, it is important to note that all forms of

sexual harassment, violence, stalking, and interpersonal violence are also covered by this

amendment.

Through my volunteer time with these organizations, I helped shape and market the 2017

Hamline Sexual Assault Climate Survey through the month of April.


Topic and Scope

Through this project, I am seeking to understand more about sexual violence

programming on college campuses, specifically on how to get programming and what are the

best practices. Sexual violence is inherently an issue of power and control, and more specifically

an issue of how our social norms train masculinity and relationship expectations. Most sexual

violence prevention programming aims to rewire the social codes that many men and women

have, specifically to look for active consent and eliminate power imbalances in relationships.

Sexual violence is an epidemic on college campuses, and is more importantly a life-altering

trauma. By understanding how to best implement prevention training, we can work to eliminate

this problem overall.

Because this is such a vast topic, I chose to focus on Hamline when researching climate

surveys, and to look at national examples on effectiveness and best practices for prevention

programs. I interviewed staff and faculty who oversaw both the current climate survey (t. aaron

hans) and the community based climate survey over the past three years (Dr. Kristin Mapel

Bloomberg). I also used research from ARC3, the company that has administered the 2017

climate survey. To study national trends in prevention programs, and get a small amount of

information on other sexual violence surveys, I looked to scholarly studies and meta-analyses of

those programs.

My final research question is: How can we optimize sexual violence prevention

programming on college campuses?


Literature Review and Additional Research

Most studies in this field agree that programming is effective, but is still struggling to understand

what is the most effective method, and how that can be achieved. The biggest competing theory

is if single gender or mixed gender programming is most effective; the articles I have researched

have different conclusions on this. Additionally, prior research could be made stronger by having

data over a longer period of time, but this is limited as sexual violence prevention work is

relatively new.

Current Policies and Programming:

At Hamline, students who are victims of sexual violence may receive sanctions from the

Title IX office, and may file a conduct report against their assailant. Sexual violence or any other

form of interpersonal relationship violence is considered a break of Hamlines conduct policy.

The process of reporting is handled by a board made of staff and faculty, a Title IX coordinator,

and an investigator. Decisions are made based on preponderance, meaning what is more likely to

have happened. Our campus has resources in the Counselling and Health Services office, Title

IX, the Womens Resource Center, and more. We also have programs such as Green Dot, and

organizations like Students Preventing Sexual Violence and VOICE to combat and heal from

sexual violence.

Nationally, rape and sexual violence are seen as criminal sex crimes that can be

recommended to to a court of law. When a report is made, a county sex crimes detective will

collect evidence (often over a period of months) and recommend that case for trial, where the

prosecutor will take on the assailant if they find the case has enough evidence to convict. Here,

the prosecutor must prove that the assailant committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt in

order for a conviction to take place. As for reporting, the Clery Act and Violence Against Women
Act requires annual reports of criminal offense statistics from colleges and universities- however,

no surveying data is required. Most counties offer rape crisis centers, but little education work is

done outside of mandated sexual education in schools.

Interview with t. aaron hans:

aaron and I discussed the differences between the community based climate surveys that

have happened at Hamline between 2014-2016, and the current survey that is administered

through the Title IX office. Most importantly to him, the data from this years survey can be

linked to other institutions, and the University has access to all raw data and questions, making it

easier to pitch a case based on the data given. Additionally, when the survey is administered by

a university, they can be sure to include questions around data they want to find answers to- as

seen this year, the climate survey included more questions about stalking and our campus attitude

around alcohol.

aaron and I also discussed the role of climate survey data in change on campus. Over the

past three years, he and Patti Klein (Title IX Coordinator at Hamline University) used data

published from previous surveys to reformat training for first year students, and specifically

training on how students understand the reporting process and Title IX office. This showed

positive results, with an increase in percentage of students who could identify who the Title IX

coordinators are and where they are located. aaron also noted that, while data from climate

surveys can be used to provide reasoning for an increase or change in prevention programming,

the results are not seen immediately, and often need to be supplemented for larger change with

policies and procedures.

This interview was helpful to understand the logistics of how climate surveys are used, as

well as the tangible change Hamline has made over the years.
Interview with Dr. Kristin Mapel Bloomberg:

Dr. Bloomberg worked with two undergraduate students between 2014 and 2016 to

administer a campus climate survey each year, formed as an independent study. While the survey

had common goals of capturing baseline data of knowledge, incidence, and prevalence, Dr.

Bloomberg believes the biggest goals of a climate survey like this is to get the information out to

students, staff, and faculty to show that Hamline is no different than the rest of the nation.

Similar to my interview with aaron, we discussed how climate surveys can and should be

used to direct prevention programming. This kind of data can be used as a tool to show all of

campus that there is a problem, and more importantly can direct the funds and/or what we do as a

campus to respond.

My interview with Dr. Bloomberg provided knowledge that made me feel more

comfortable comparing the community based and institutionalized climate surveys, both in what

goals were similar and specifically the difference in execution.

ARC3 Information Packet:

This document states that the purpose of campus climate surveys is to go beyond

assessing the incidence and prevalence of sexual misconduct, but should act as a guide for

success of policies, procedures, and prevention programs. It also goes further to note that this

survey hopes to identify reasons that sexual misconduct happens, and potential factors, attitudes,

and environments that allow for this behavior to happen.

While ARC3 did an effective job discussing guiding principles and objectives, the rest of

the document and information provided is related to the technical execution, layout, and possible

outcomes of the climate survey. This omits the understanding of potential change, and could

leave institutions with no steps or support after completing the survey.


Sexual Assault Education Programs: A Meta-Analytic Examination of Their Effectiveness:

Anderson and Whiston take over sixty studies and use methods to analyze each for the

effectiveness of seven different outcome measures for sexual assault education programs. Each

outcome was granted a certain number of effect sizes, or amount of effectiveness in results.

This was calculated into mean effect size, quantifying the average positive change in each

outcome measure. The results are as follows:

1. Rape knowledge had a mean effect size of 0.57, indicating that those who

participated in the program had higher factual knowledge about rape and sexual assault as

compared to those who did not complete the programming.


2. Rape attitudes had a mean effect size of 0.27, meaning that sexual violence

programming had a positive influence and decreased rape attitudes (such as victim

blaming, rape myth acceptance, etc)

These were the only two behaviors that statistically qualified as having a reasonable

effect size, but the categories for behavioral intentions (or intentions/inclinations to commit

violence), rape-related attitudes, and incidence of sexual assault all changed positively in a

statistically significant way; 0.14, 0.12, and 0.10 respectively. Based on the studies that Anderson

and Whiston analyzed, sexual assault programming did not have significant impact on rape

empathy or rape awareness behaviors.

This study was very statistically thorough, and provided a large insight on many different

programs and what our nation overall shows is effective. This research is useful in showing the

positive change that programs have, as well as potential areas to target in order to have a holistic

prevention approach.

The Effect of a College Sexual Assault Prevention Program on First-year Students

Victimization Rates:
Rothman and Silverman used this study to understand how introducing prevention-based

programming to orientation for first-year students could limit the possibility of sexual violence

for the following year. This was done by implementing a 90-minute dramatic presentation into

orientation for the new students in the class of 2006, as well as a two-hour sexual assault

education workshop the following November. As a control group, the class of 2006 (that had not

received any prevention programming) took a survey at the same time that the younger class was

receiving programming. One year later, the class of 2007 took this same survey in order to have

similar methodologies and reference periods. As a result of this survey, victimization decreased

by 5%, from 17% to 12%, giving a causal link between sexual violence prevention programming

and lower rates of assault.

This survey did ask about alcohol use, as most climate surveys would do, but did not ask

anything other related to campus attitudes towards sexual assault and violence. However, this

does show the effectiveness of continued programming towards sexual violence prevention, and

could be used to supplement data gathered by climate surveys.

Sexual Assault Programming on College Campuses: Using Social Psychological Belief and

Behavior Change Principles to Improve Outcomes:

Paul and Grey conduct a meta-study of programming effectiveness, and briefly conclude

that data shows the most effective programs are longer interventions, delivered in various modes

to reach all audiences, presented in single-gender groups, provide follow-up assessment,

facilitated by professionals, and hopefully target behavioral change.They also study three

psychological trends that contribute to sexual victimization in hopes of describing factors that

contribute to campus violence, as well as places to focus prevention efforts: social norms that

encourage male dominance, cognitive dissonance between how survivors act and how they are
expected to act (hypocrisy salience), and decision and deterrence theories that describe

individuals making choices based upon information they have, and based on maximizing benefits

and reducing negative consequences- almost trying to justify sexual assault. These three areas

were prevalent in all programs, and provide direction on how to focus future programming.

The Sexual Victimization of College Women:

This source was commissioned by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Bureau

of Justice Statistics (BJS) in 2000 to research the incidence and prevalence of sexual violence on

college campuses. These departments created a survey titled the National College Women Sexual

Victimization (NCWSV) study, and compared it to the most accurate survey at the time, the

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which studied violence of other natures as well.

The strength of this study was the illumination of survey methods; for example, on page

12, the authors discuss the only methodological difference between the two surveys. The

NCWSV used behaviorally specific screen questions, asking about about the situation rather than

if the respondent had been raped in order to get more accurate statistics. Significantly, the

number of women who reported to be victims of completed rape increased by over 900% (from

0.16% to 1.7%), and the number of women who reported to be victims of attempted rape

increased by over 600% (0.18% to 1.1%). This shows a clear indication that more women

experience sexual violence than those who self report, and that behaviorally based screen

questions are more accurate in attaining that knowledge. Similar to what we would see in a

climate survey now, the NCWSV also asked about risk factors associated with sexual violence,

but failed to study respondents attitudes around those factors.

Overall, the NCWSV found that 2.8% of the sample (almost 4,500 college-aged women,

gender diversity being a flaw in the study) experienced attempted or completed rape within the
first six months of that school year- much lower than the normal statistic we see of one in four.

However, the way that the authors framed this data is misleading. This data only studies a

reference period of six months; if inflated over the traditional four years, this would be very

close to 25% of college women experiencing attempted or completed rape.

Conclusions, Implications, and Directions for Future Research

My studies showed the intricacies to both climate surveys and sexual violence prevention

programming. Change in these areas take at least a year to implement and analyze, leading to a

slow process in finding positive results. Additionally, the way the survey is administered is

important. There are pros and cons to having the survey institutionalized, for consistency of data

but also response rates. The length of the survey, and questions involved, should be framed to ask

about behaviors rather than asking specifically about incidents, and should be done in the least

victimizing way possible.

The scholarly articles that I analyzed indicated that sexual violence prevention

programming can easily be effective in not only incident prevention, but change in attitudes

around sexual violence. However, it is important to have effective programming that extends

over a longer reference period, meaning the message is reinforced over time. Research also

showed specific areas to target in prevention, such as fighting social norms that encourage male

dominance, knowledge about rape empathy or rape awareness behaviors, and more. Studies also

showed that single gender programs are narrowly more effective than mixed gender programs,

even though the common belief is that mixed gender programs are more effective.

Ideally, prevention programming on college campuses would take this research as a way

to improve moving forwards. This research also highlights how a climate survey can be used as a
valuable tool in reforming programming, both for understanding prevalence and attitudes

towards assault and related behaviors (alcohol consumption, harassment, etc). For further insight,

I would like to see a study that investigates prevention programming for those who are

revictimized, as most data indicated that current programs do not change the prevalence for those

who experience violence again. This research could help an even more vulnerable population by

providing tools to show they matter, and that prevention of revictimization is a priority.

Additionally, I would like to see studies that show how campus climate surveys are used outside

of reporting incidence and prevalence. Programming around changing campus climate around

harassment, power imbalances, and alcohol use may also be effective in preventing sexual

violence.

Works Cited

Anderson, Linda A., and Susan C. Whiston. "Sexual Assault Education Programs: A Meta-
Analytic Examination of Their Effectiveness." Psychology of Women Quarterly 29.4 (2005):
374-88. SAGE Journals. Web. 3 May 2017.

ARC3. Campus Climate Survey. Guiding Principles for Development of Student-Focused


Climate Surveys. ARC3, 1 Sept. 2015. Web.

Fisher, Bonnie S., Francis T. Cullen, and Michael G. Turner. Sexual Victimization of College
Women. N.p.: U.S. Department of Justice, 2000. Print.

hans, t. aaron. "Campus Climate Survey Interview." Personal interview. 2 May 2017.

Mapel Bloomberg, Kristin. "Campus Climate Survey Interview." Personal interview. 3 May
2017.

Paul, Lisa A., and Matt J. Gray. "Sexual Assault Programming on College Campuses: Using
Social Psychological Belief and Behavior Change Principles to Improve Outcomes." Trauma,
Violence, & Abuse 12.2 (2011): 99-109. SAGE Journals. Web. 27 Apr. 2017.

Rothman, Emily, and Jay Silverman. "The Effect of a College Sexual Assault Prevention
Program on First-year Students' Victimization Rates." Journal of American College Health 55.5
(2007): 283-90. SAGE Journals. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.
"Sexual Violence Prevention Task Force." Hamline University. Hamline University, n.d. Web. 04
May 2017.

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