AAU's Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct

To the Dartmouth Community:

The Association of American Universities (AAU) today released the results of the spring 2015 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct. Twenty-seven institutions across the country, including Dartmouth, participated in the survey.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our students who participated in the survey. The results can help us better understand the attitudes and experiences of our undergraduate, graduate, and professional students with respect to sexual assault and sexual misconduct. The data will inform and strengthen our policies and practices and help make all of our students safer.

The Dartmouth survey findings in full, an executive summary of the findings, and the aggregate data from participating schools are available on the Office of Institutional Research website.

We hope that you will read these materials. They confirm our understanding that sexual assault and harassment are significant challenges at Dartmouth and on campuses across the nation. We must make progress on these very serious issues of student safety and campus climate.

We have appointed Professor of Economics Bruce Sacerdote to chair a data-analysis committee consisting of faculty, staff, and students who will examine the AAU survey results and compare and synthesize the AAU data with the results from other surveys that we conduct on this topic. What we learn from these surveys will strengthen our already considerable efforts in sexual assault education, prevention, response, and accountability through the Moving Dartmouth Forward initiative and other campus programs.

In October, we will launch our own Community Study, a campus-wide survey that looks not just at sexual assault, but at the entire learning, working, and living environment at Dartmouth.

The safety of our students is our top priority, and the information from the two surveys will help to direct our work and track progress as we continue to build a safer, more respectful, and more supportive community.

Sincerely,

Phil Hanlon '77
President

Carolyn Dever
Provost