UF students will be taking part in a national sexual assault climate survey in April to give the university a sense of what is working and where improvements need to be made.
UF is one of almost 30 public and private institutions participating in the Association of American Universities’ survey, which is inspired by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.
The survey, created by the association together with a professional firm called Westat, costs $85,000 per school and will be emailed to students.
“We’re feeling really good about it,” said UF Dean of Students Jen Day Shaw. “It will give us the kind of information we need.”
Day Shaw said participating in this survey will also allow UF to compare itself with other AAU schools, many of which are similar in size and prestige.
She said although UF has phenomenal resources, there will always be a better way to get information out.
“For me, it’s going to be really helpful to know the awareness of resources,” she said. “That’s my prediction of where we’re really going to focus some energy.”
Rita Lawrence, GatorWell’s interpersonal violence prevention coordinator, said the counselors focus on primary prevention.
“Don’t tolerate rape culture,” she said. “We want everyone to feel comfortable expressing their sexuality and sexual agency and be able to say yes when they mean yes and no when they mean no — and respecting that.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/30/2015 under the headline “UF plans assault survey"]
