SUNY Sexual Violence Prevalence Campus Climate Survey

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2023 SUNY Campus Climate Survey 

SUNY Geneseo maintains a deep commitment to creating a safe environment for all faculty, staff, administrators, and students.  

Consistent with New York State Education Law 129-B and policies of The State University of New York, Geneseo participated in the 2023 University-wide Biennial SUNY Uniform Sexual Violence Prevention (SVP) Campus Climate Survey. The SVP Campus Climate Survey (administered 4/10/23-5/1/23) gathered information about student and employee experience with sexual and interpersonal violence, stalking, and knowledge of policies and resources on campus.

Executive Summary

In April, our campus began an online administration of the Sexual Violence Prevalence (SVP) Campus Climate Survey. This survey was administered to students and employees and is required to address, at minimum, student and employee knowledge about:

• The Title IX Coordinator's role;
• Campus policies and procedures addressing sexual assault;
• How and where to report sexual violence as a victim/survivor or witness;
• The availability of resources on and off campus, such as counseling, health, academic assistance;
• The prevalence of victimization and perpetration of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking on and off campus during a set time period;
• Bystander attitudes and behavior;
• Whether victims/survivors reported to the University and/or police, and reasons why the did or did not report;
• The general awareness of the difference, if any, between the institution's polices and the penal law; and
• The general awareness of the definition of affirmative consent.

Background

The SVP survey is administered every other year by all SUNY campuses, who work closely with SUNY System Administration to coordinate the survey administration itself. An effort is made to keep the questions from one administration to the next as consistent as possible to allow for reliable and meaningful longitudinal data. Systemwide IRB review takes place for each survey administration.

Our campus administered both the student and employee survey between April 10 and May 1, 2023. All eligible survey participants received an electronic invitation by email from Survey@suny.edu and remained open to be completed until May 1, 2023. Excluded survey populations were individuals under 18 years of age, all incarcerated individuals regardless of age, and all students concurrently enrolled in high school regardless of age.

SUNY Geneseo did not offer incentives to invited participants. Instead, the campus used the Title IX Instagram page as well as tabling events in the Student Union to campaign for active participation, hung posters up around campus and utilized various campus listservs and electronic newsletters to garner participation by both the student body and employees.

Individual responses were treated as confidential and participation was voluntary.

If you have any questions about the survey or the results included in this report, please contact the Title IX Coordinator.

Results of SUNY Sexual Violence Prevention Campus Climate Survey (2023)

Survey Demographics

	Invitation	Response	Rate (%)
Students	3895	281	7.2
Employees	878	262	29.8

Student Demographics

Undergraduate students comprised the majority of student body respondents with 278/3,818 reporting, while only 3.9% of graduate students (3/77) responding. Over 12% of respondents reported being first year students, completing 1-2 semesters at the time of the survey, while 19.2% of respondents reported being upper class students, with the following breakdown: sophomores (6.9%),  juniors (6.2%) and seniors (6.1%).

Most of the student respondents (71%) were living in on campus housing. Other housing options within the past year included off campus housing with friends/roommates, living with family, and temporarily staying with friends/relatives while looking for alternate housing. Respondents could “check all that applied” within the preceding year; 36.2% reported living with family and 32.8% of reporting students also indicated they were living in off campus housing with roommates and/or friends in the past year.

	Greek Life	Athletic Team	Athletic Club
Geneseo	29.7%	17.8%	15.7%
SUNY Total	11.8%	10.4%	13.5%

An overwhelmingly large population of students reported involvement in Greek Life (29.7%) compared to the SUNY total of 11.8%. Seventeen percent of student respondents indicated that they were on an athletic team and almost sixteen percent indicated they were involved in a club sport, which was also significantly higher than the SUNY total of 10.4% and 13.5% respectively. 

Forty-two percent (42.7%) of respondents indicated having a disability/chronic health condition. Raw data indicate that of those that disclosed a disability/chronic health condition (79/185 respondents), 74.7% reported having a chronic mental health condition (depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc), 41.8% reported a diagnosis of ADHD, 24% reported having a chronic health condition (diabetes, cystic fibrosis, chronic pain, etc), 12.6% reported having a learning disability, 15.2% reported having an Autism Spectrum Disorder and 19% reported having a mobility related or sensory disability.

Gender identity	Percentage
Man	25.2%
Woman	70.6%
Non Binary	4.9%
Transgender	2.8%
Genderqueer/Gender-fluid	2.8%

Sexual orientation of respondents was as follows:

• 64.4% heterosexual
• 20.9% bisexual
• 7.6% queer
• 5.4% lesbian
• 4% asexual
• 4% questioning/unsure
• 3.6% pansexual
• 2.9% gay

Employee Demographics

Approximately 30% of faculty and staff (272/878) responded to the invitation to complete the survey. Of the respondents, 42.7% identified as faculty, while 57.3% identified as staff or administrator. The majority of respondents (68.7%) identified as full-time, permanent/continuing employees; while 19.5% identified as full-time, not permanent/continuing and 11.1% were part-time employees.

Raw data for length of employment at the campus showed that approximately half of the respondents (49.4%) have been employed for over eleven years, 22.9% for 1-5 years, 17.3% for 6-10 years and 10% for less than a year.

The majority of employee respondents identified as women (51.5%) compared to men (38.5%). Seventy-nine percent of respondents identified as heterosexual, 3% as gay and 9.2% preferring not to respond.

Responses: Title IX Infrastructure, Campus Policies & Resources

This section relates to campus wide knowledge and awareness surrounding SUNY Geneseo’s Title IX Office, policies and procedures, as well as campus and community resources. Eighteen percent (18%) of student respondents and 14% of employee respondents did not know how to report incidents of sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic/dating violence or stalking to the college.

Result Area	Faculty	Staff	Student
Contacting TIX Coordinator	78.3%	77.5%	73.9%
Campus polices/procedures	91%	91.3%	90%
Definition of Affirmative Consent	83.8%	78.8%	80.2%

• Overall, the majority of both employee and student respondents displayed an awareness of how to contact the Title IX Coordinator and the campus policies related to sexual assault on campus
• 9% of employees did not know the definition of affirmative consent compared to 7% of students, while a slightly higher percentage of students were unsure of the definition (10.7%) compared to employees.
• The campus as a whole acknowledged understanding that someone who is incapacitated can not provide consent (97.7% students, 89.4% faculty and 92.7% staff, respectively).
• The vast majority of both employee and student respondents indicated receiving written and/or verbal information from people on campus about the following, versus 15% who stated they did not receive any information:

Type of Information	Faculty	Staff	Student
Definition of sexual assault	74%	77.4%	67.5%
How to report a sexual assault	75.9%	83.2%	73.6%
Where to go for help after a sexual assault	73.1%	81%	73.6%
Confidential campus resources	67.6%	78.1%	67.2%
Policies prohibiting sexual assault	75%	76.6%	54.7%

• 17.6% of faculty, 13.9% of staff and 15% of student respondents reported not receiving any information on the above information.
• When employees were asked about knowing the difference between confidentiality and privacy, 25.7% of faculty were not sure and 16.5% of staff were not sure; 8.6% of all employees did not know the difference.
• When employees and students were asked about awareness of the difference between the campus disciplinary process and the criminal justice system process, only 53% of student respondents acknowledged knowing versus 78.8% of employees.

Which of the following incidents do you know how to report to the college?

Type of incident	Faculty	Staff	Students
Sexual assault	76.6%	87.1%	78.6%
Sexual harassment	80.4%	86.3%	70.6%
Domestic/Dating violence	60.7%	79.9%	60.3%
Stalking	59.8%	76.3%	53.8%

• 17.8% of faculty, 11.5% of staff and 18.7% of all respondents reported not knowing how to report incidents to the college

Most respondents indicated an awareness of the role of the Title IX Coordinator as indicated by the following:

Role of TIX Coordinator	Employees		Students
Coordinating campus response	80.2%		77.2%
Receiving reports	86.9%		88.7%
Training/education campus community	83.9%		84.6%
Providing accommodations	70.6%		81%O

Overall, employees and students had similar responses when reporting having an awareness of campus and local resources, (excluding the Title IX Office):

Top 5 identified campus/local resources

Employees	%	Students	%
UPD	94.2%	UPD	90.1%
Campus Health	83.9%	Campus Health	83.3%
Human Resources	83.9%	Counseling Center	77.5%
Counseling Center	82.5%	Local Police	59.5%
Local Police	80.3%	Local Health/hospitals	51.8%

• 3.1% of employees and 8.6% of student respondents indicated an unawareness of any campus or local resources
• Employees also listed a slightly higher awareness of the Office of Student Conduct (66.8%) compared to students (40.1%)

Incidents and Disclosures of Sexual, Dating/Domestic Violence and Stalking

This section asked the campus body of SUNY Geneseo about experiences and incidents of sexual and interpersonal violence within the last year. It includes whether students disclosed their experience and to whom, as well as if not reported their reasons for not reporting. It also includes whether employees reported any known disclosures, to whom and their reasons for not reporting.

Percent reporting-Student

	Number	Percentage
Sexual Violence	216 responses	74.2%
IPV (Domestic/Dating Violence)	210 responses	72.2%
Stalking	210 responses	72.2%

• Employee respondents indicated that within the year preceding the survey, 15.4% of them received a disclosure from a student about an unwanted sexual experience
  • Of those receiving disclosures, 17% of the respondents were faculty and 14.2% were staff
  • 53.1% of employees reported the disclosure to the campus versus 31.3% who did not
  • Of those respondents who did not report the disclosure, 80% chose "none of the above"
    • According to the raw data, other reasons given for not reporting the disclosure were:
      • "I didn't trust the campus to take appropriate action"
      • "I am a designated confidential resource"
      • "The student asked me not to"

Sexual Violence

Student respondents reported experiencing the following things without their consent within the year preceding the survey; these numbers are higher than when reported in the 2021 SVP survey:

Comparison of experiences between 2021 and 2023 survey-Student

Experience	2021	2023	% Change
Unwanted sexual comments, slurs or demeaning jokes	31.5%	46.1%	46.3%
Unwanted sexually suggestive digital communications (words/images)	19.4%	30.1%	55.2%
Someone viewing sexual activity/nakedness, explicit pictures/video without consent	4.6%	9.1%	97.8%

Comparison of experiences between 2021 and 2023 survey-Employee

Experience	2021	2023	% Change
Unwanted sexual comments, slurs or demeaning jokes	5%	6.8%	36%
Unwanted sexually suggestive digital communications (words/images)	3.1%	4.1%	32.3%
Someone viewing sexual activity/nakedness, explicit pictures/video without consent

• Employee respondents noted that this experience occurred in an office on campus (42.9%) or in another setting on campus (64.3%) by another staff member (42.9%). 
• When asked if they took any action after the experience, 57.1% of respondents reported they took no action.

Student respondents were asked more specific questions around their experiences with sexual assaults, either attempted or completed:

• The rate of occurrence reported between 2021 and 2023 of these experiences significantly increased in all areas except for attempts at removing clothing.
• There were some interesting findings surrounding rates of occurrences, gender identity and sexual orientation of these experiences.
  • Completed, nonconsensual fondling, kissing or rubbing of private areas: 16.2% (men) vs. 25% (women)
  • Students identifying as women reported experiencing all other types of incidents at rates of approximately 4-5% (attempts) and 5-10% (completions).
  • Students identifying as bisexual reported experiencing completed, nonconsensual fondling, kissing or rubbing of private areas at a rate of 35.5% (completed) versus 20.8% for heterosexual students.
• For the most recent incident (attempted or completed) of sexual comments, sexually suggestive communications, fondling/kissing/rubbing of private body parts, removal of clothes, having oral sex or performing oral sex or sexual penetration (all without consent), those who responded reported that 59.7% of the perpetrators were somehow affiliated with the campus community

Students who responded to the survey reported their relationship to the perpetrator as follows:

• Strangers, 29.1%
• Acquaintance/no prior relationship, 14.5%
• Non-Romantic friends, 16.2%
• Other college students, 15.4%
• Ex-romantic partners, 7.7%
• Casual or first date, 5.1%
  • 1.4% of student respondents indicated that there was more than one person involved in the incident

Students’ responses to questions about who they disclosed to as well as reasons for not reporting are broken down as follows:

• The top people that students disclosed their most recent assault to were friend (89.5%), roommate/housemate (63.2%), romantic partner (28.9%) and parent/guardian (18.4%)
• 15.8% of respondents reported going to the Title IX office, and the raw data suggests that a few other students disclosed to campus counseling/health services, UPD, and faculty/staff at the campus

Unfortunately, 63.6% of reporters (70 responses) did not tell anyone about what happened to them, and of those who did disclose, only 1.7% (5 responses) of reporters filed a formal complaint with SUNY Geneseo

Here is a breakdown of student’s reasons for not disclosing their assault. Reporters could choose all that applied:

• “I did not think it was important enough” (46 responses, 70.8%)
• “I just did not want to deal with it” (46 responses, 70.8%)
• “I did not recognize it as sexual assault at the time” (36 responses, 55.4%)
• “I was ashamed or embarrassed” (29 responses, 44.6%)
• “I was worried it was partly my fault” (21 responses, 32.3%)
• "I was concerned that others would find out" (20 responses, 30.8%)
• "I did not think I would be believed" (19 responses, 29.2%)
• “I thought I would be blamed for what happened” (18 responses, 27.7%)
• “I was worried that if I told someone at my campus, the administration would take action on their own without my permission” (16 responses, 24.6%)
• “I did not trust the campus to take appropriate action” (15 responses, 23.1%)
• “I feared the person who did it would try to hurt me again in some way” (15 responses, 23.1%)
• “I did not trust police to take appropriate action” (11 responses, 16.9%)
• “I was afraid of losing my friends or my friend group changing" (11 responses, 16.9%)

Intimate Partner Violence

Students were asked about experiences with intimate partner violence (intimate partner was defined as “a boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or anyone [the respondent] was in an intimate relationship with or hooked up with, including exes and current partners) within the past year

Comparison of IPV experiences between 2021 and 2023 survey

Experience	2021	2023	% Change
Controlled or tried to control you	7.4%	9.2%	24.3%
Scratched, slapped, hit, kicked, beaten, punched, or physically harmed you	3.7%	5.3%	43.2%
Threatened to hurt you, your family/friends, or themselves in order to influence you	3.1%	5.3%	71%

• Of those who responded to these questions, 41.7% did disclose this experience to someone which is an 11.7% decrease compared to the results of the 2021 survey.
• 3.4% (10 responses) reported that they disclosed to the following people (respondents could check all that applied):
  • Roommate/housemate (9 responses)
  • Friend (8 responses)
  • UPD, parent/guardian, romantic partner, Title IX Office (2 responses)

58.3% of student respondents disclosed they told NO ONE about the abuse they experienced and according to the raw data, only 2 respondents filed a formal complaint with the college.

Below is a breakdown of reasons students gave for not reporting their incidents of dating/domestic violence based on the raw data collected from the 4.8% of respondents who chose to answer this question:

• “I did not think it was important enough” (10 responses, 3.4%)
• “I did not recognize it as domestic/dating violence at the time” (7 responses, 2.4%)
• “I was worried that it was partly my fault” (6 responses, 2.1%)
• “I did not think I would be believed” (4 responses, 1.4%)
• "I thought I would be blamed for what happened" (4 responses, 1.4%)
• "I just did not want to deal with it" (4 responses, 1.4%)

Stalking

Eighteen student respondents (9.1%) reported that a stranger/friend/current or ex-partner repeatedly followed, watched, texted, called, emailed, or communicated with them in ways that seemed obsessive and made them afraid and concerned for their safety. 

Regarding the relationship with the perpetrator, only 6.2% of students chose to respond and reported the following responses:

• 2.7% reported that the person was an ex-romantic partner or former spouse
• 1% reported the person was a current romantic partner, including spouse

76.5% of respondents told someone about the incident. In addition, there were no respondents who filed a formal complaint with SUNY Geneseo.

Of the students who reported they told someone about the most recent incident, they gave out the top people they disclosed to were:

• Friend (12 responses, 4.1%)
• Roommate/housemate (9 responses, 3.1%)
• Title IX Office, (5 responses, 1.7%)
• Parent/guardian (3 responses, 1%)
• Romantic partner (3 responses, 1%)

There were too few responses to present results about the reasons students decided not to disclose or report their experiences.

According to the raw data, 42.6% of all student respondents indicated that their experiences of sexual violence, dating/domestic violence and stalking made them change their academic or educational plans in the following ways:

• 8.9% of respondents reported changing their academic housing or schedule
• 7.3% reported leaving school
• 4.9% reported transferring to another school

Bystander Intervention

This section asked students and employees about their perceptions of how their fellow students would respond and how SUNY Geneseo would respond in various situations

Employee Perception

If you reported a student disclosure, would the campus:

	Strongly disagree	Disagree	N/A	Agree	Strongly Agree
Take your report seriously		2.7%	8.6%	44.5%	42.3%
Conduct a fair investigation		5%	17%	40.4%	35.3%
Provide student with support during the process	2.8%	6.9%	19.4%	37.8%	33.2%

Indicate level of agreement or disagreement:

	Strongly disagree	Disagree	N/A	Agree	Strongly Agree
If a student were assaulted, I know how to advise them to get help		6.4%	12.3%	48.2%	30.9%
I understand what happens when a student reports an assault on campus	3.6%	15%	27.7%	31.8%	21.8%

• 83% of employee respondents answered "Likely" or "Very Likely" that another employee would be willing to call for help if they hear a neighbor yelling for help
• 55.8% of employee respondents answered "Likely" or "Very Likely" that another employee would talk to a student who they suspect is in an abusive relationship
• 79.2% reported that they believe another employee would get help and resources for a friend who tells them they have been assaulted
• 64.5% reported that they believe another employee would disclose information to campus authorities about a known assault even if pressured to stay silent.

Student Perception

If you or a friend files a complaint, do you think the college would:

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	N/A	Agree	Strong Agree
Conduct a fair investigation	8.3%	14.6%	25.9%	30.2%	21%
Take the report seriously	4.9%	15.1%	18.5%	37.1%	24.4%
Provide the student with support during the process	9.3%	17.2%	18.6%	33.3%	21.6%

• These results showed a positive increase in the faith in the college's ability to handle reports of assaults compared to the results of the 2021 survey.
• These results also match the percentages of the SUNY totals

How likely you think a fellow student will do the following:

	Very Unlikely	Unlikely	Don't Know	Likely	Unlikely
Call for help if they hear a neighbor yelling	5.4%	17.2%	23.6%	38.9%	14.8%
Confront a friend who tells they had sex with someone who was incapacitated or didn't consent	5.4%	12.7%	28.4%	29.9%	23.5%
Express discomfort if someone makes a joke about someone's body	3.9%	29.3%	21.5%	32.7%	12.7%
Get help/resources for a friend who discloses they have been assaulted	2.9%	5.9%	17.6%	43.1%	30.4%
Tell an RA or campus authority about a sexual assault even if pressured to stay silent	8.9%	20.3%	35.1%	24.3%	11.4%

• Compared to the 2021 survey results, student respondents indicated a decreased belief that another student would be an active bystander in these situations in the 2023 survey.

Geneseo, working with SUNY and community colleagues (including students, faculty, and staff), will use these data to continually improve the campus’s response to violence, develop prevention programs, as well as continue to study and report findings on the issue. 

The next SVP Campus Climate Survey will be administered in 2025. Stay tuned for information related to accessing and completing the survey! We thank you in advance for your participation!

More information about the survey is available at https://www.suny.edu/climatesurvey/.

If you have questions about the survey, please contact the Title IX Coordinator or the Director of Institutional Research.