Faculty/Staff Campus Climate Survey Report

Message from: Ajay Nair, Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life, and Stuart Zola, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:
Last fall Emory University reported the findings from its first comprehensive campus climate survey on student experience and attitudes regarding sexual violence.

Under the auspices of the University Senate Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Violence, a similar survey was undertaken last summer to explore faculty and staff members' perspectives of workplace climate and knowledge of sex discrimination policies.

Results from the faculty-staff survey -- the first of its kind at Emory -- combined with findings from the student survey, have provided us with data to develop comprehensive, evidence-based strategies to greatly reduce sexual violence within our community.

We are aware that the information reported below may be difficult for some community members to read, particularly those who have experienced violence; please know there are resources available to you.

The survey sought to obtain faculty and staff experiences in four broad areas: sexual harassment; training in how to manage sex discrimination complaints; familiarity and knowledge of Title IX (a federal law which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex); and comfort levels with guiding students and colleagues through the disclosure process.

Out of 11,631 faculty and staff contacted, 2,807 accessed the survey (24 percent) with 2,290 of those respondents (20 percent) answering at least one question -- 1,667 identified as staff members and 596 identified as faculty. Within that pool, 64 percent were women, 34 percent were men, and less than 2 percent identified as transgender.

Across all groups, the survey found that 21 percent of respondents had witnessed or experienced some form of sexual harassment since coming to Emory, a continuum that can range from offensive jokes and comments to sexual quid pro quo. Of that group, 2 percent said that they had used Emory's formal procedures to report the incident.

Key findings from the survey include:

Training: Overall, a majority of faculty respondents (81 percent) and almost half of staff respondents (49 percent) reported that they had received training to address issues of sex discrimination at Emory, and a majority of both groups are familiar with Emory's Equal Opportunity and Harassment Policy.

Knowledge of Emory policy, Title IX: While over 80 percent of faculty and staff respondents indicated knowledge of Emory's Equal Opportunity and Discriminatory Harassment Policy and Sexual Misconduct Policy, knowledge of Title IX and Title IX coordinators differed by whether respondents had received training about sex discrimination. Of note, at the time of the survey, mandatory Title IX training had been implemented for faculty but not yet offered for staff.

Disclosure process: A majority of faculty and staff felt somewhat comfortable or very comfortable guiding a student or colleague through a disclosure process. But there were differences in the comfort level between faculty and staff and based upon whether the individual seeking help was a student or colleague and whether the respondent had received training surrounding sex discrimination.

The full summary report prepared by the Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Violence is posted to the Office of the Provost's website along with campus resources related to preventing sexual violence. The report's recommendations include: providing faculty and staff with bystander intervention programs, offering ongoing Title IX training, and conducting regular monitoring and evaluation of prevention strategies to measure efforts.

We thank faculty, staff and students who responded to the surveys, and we also thank the committee members for their ongoing work in conducting research that will help us develop and implement new approaches to creating a supportive environment in which all community members can flourish.

Sincerely,
Ajay Nair
Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life