LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has released the results of a campus survey.
“We needed a comprehensive assessment of the climate at MSU for students, faculty and staff,” said Rebecca Campbell, professor of psychology and adviser to the president on RVSM issues. “MSU has never done a truly campus-wide survey on relationship violence and sexual misconduct, and we needed to hear from our community about their experiences, concerns and ideas for changing the culture at MSU.”
The survey was open to all students, faculty and staff, and was launched back in March and led by Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct (RVSM) Expert Advisory Workgroup.
“Understanding the problems that our campus members face and creating solutions to making our environment safe are important as we work to change our culture around these issues,” said MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. “This new base of knowledge will guide us in creating our strategic plan going forward.”
The survey garnered 15,000 responses from students, faculty and staff and focused on four areas: RVSM prevalence and incidents, the impact of RVSM resources, campus climate and workplace incivility, according to the release.
The report showed that undergraduate students experienced high rates of sexual harassment for both men and women. The report also showed faculty and staff of all genders experienced some type of workplace incivility throughout their time at MSU.
In addition, traditionally marginalized community members such as populations of women, people with disabilities, bisexual people and transgender people, were more likely to respond that they had experienced some form of sexual or relationship violence, according to the report.
“MSU has a significant number of community members who are experiencing relationship violence and sexual misconduct, and these experiences are upsetting and interfere with their school, work and relationships,” said Carrie Moylan, assistant professor of social work and RVSM Workgroup member who led this survey effort. “We need to create a culture that supports their health, well-being and recovery.”
The survey found that sexual harassment was the most common type of victimization students experienced with nearly two-thirds of undergraduate women, 42.2% of undergraduate men and 32.4% of men who are graduate/professional students saying they experienced sexual harassment in the 2018-2019 school year.
The survey found that the majority of faculty and staff, of all genders, experienced some type of workplace incivility with the most common being a supervisor or coworker who paid little attention to their statements, or showed little interest in their opinions, interrupted, or doubted judgment of their coworkers.
The report also found that work-related sexual harassment was reported for 18.7% of women faculty, 9.3% for men faculty and 17.6% for women staff and 15.1% for men staff.
The report said the most common types of sexual harassment were someone referring to people of one's gender in insulting or offensive terms, someone making inappropriate or offensive comments about the someone else's body, appearance or sexual activities and someone making sexual remarks or telling jokes or stories that were insulting.
In terms of the climate on campus, the report found that undergraduate men and faculty men reported the most positive perceptions of climate, where women who were graduate/professional students and members of faculty, reported the most negative perceptions of climate.
To view the full survey results, click here.
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