As many of you know, most likely due to the various emails piling up in your inbox, Cal Poly is conducting a campus wide climate survey. As the survey’s informational video jokes, it is not asking about San Luis Obispo’s weather climate (although I’m sure that survey would, by in large, show how much Cal Poly’s students enjoy its sunny atmosphere).
In actuality, this survey is a confidential way for students, faculty members and staff to express their feelings about certain issues at Cal Poly. Professor Susan Rankin, of Rankin & Associates Consulting, is conducting the survey to get a better grasp of how our campus can further improve. President Armstrong is also a big supporter of the survey.
“If we are going to succeed in meeting our goals, it’s vital that we enhance our campus climate. Studies show that faculty, staff, and students who work and learn in a healthy environment feel supported and thus are more likely to be successful,” Armsrong reportedly said. “Our goal is to have the healthiest campus climate we can possibly have. Anecdotal information indicates that we have work to do (and that) our campus climate can be improved. … The survey’s purpose is to obtain baseline information about how campus constituents — faculty, staff, and students — experience Cal Poly.”
So basically, the survey stresses the importance of having your individual voice heard in order to make Cal Poly a campus where students and staff members can feel comfortable.
The survey itself is mainly comprised of questions regarding issues of race, sexuality, gender, sexual assault, socio-economic status, ableism, favoritism and bullying. Those who have taken the survey say it will take fifteen minutes to an upwards of an hour to complete based on how thorough you wish to answer the questions.
It begins by asking the participant if they had every personally “experienced any exclusionary (e.g., shunned, ignored), intimidating, offensive and/or hostile (bullied, harassing) behavior at Cal Poly” and if so to recount to details surrounding the incidence. The survey then asks if the participant has ever experienced unwanted sexual contact, but does not ask said participant to provide details surrounding the event. The campus climate survey goes on to ask about the participant’s race, class, gender, disabilities, political views, religious affiliation, relationship status and level of education. The last part of the survey asks for the participant’s perception of our campus’ climate. This part has the participant rate dimensions (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, age bias, classism and ableism) on a scale of 1 to 5. The survey provides the example of “1= completely free of racism, 2=mostly free of racism, 3=occasionally encounter racism; 4= regularly encounter racism; 5=constantly encounter racism” to help participants to answer these questions.
Although some questions may be oddly phrased, this survey is helpful for the betterment of our community. It not only shows the members of Cal Poly’s administration are recognizing issues on our campus, such as its obvious lack of diversity, but that they actually seem to care about the well-being and safety of their students, faculty and staff. Additionally, this is an exciting step forward in our university’s attempt for better inclusivity and diversity on our campus and community. If you haven’t yet taken Cal Poly’s campus climate survey, please do!