2023 SUNY Polytechnic Institute Sexual Violence Prevention (SVP) Campus Climate Survey

Executive Summary

Consistent with New York State Education Law 129-B and policies of The State University of New York, SUNY Polytechnic Institute participated in the 2023 University-wide Biennial SUNY Uniform Campus Climate Survey. The Survey gathered information about student and employee experience with sexual and interpersonal violence and knowledge of policies and resources.

The survey is required to obtain student and employee knowledge, at minimum, in the following areas:

• 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 (for example, the last two years);
• Bystander attitudes and behavior;
• Whether victims/survivors reported to the College/University and/or police, and reasons why they did or did not report, and
• The general awareness of the definition of affirmative consent.

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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.  System-wide IRB review takes place for each survey administration.

SUNY Poly distributed the SVP survey to all eligible students and employees, via email, on March 22, 2023. The recipients were given until April 19, 2023 to complete and submit the survey. Individuals that were excluded from completing the survey were any students or employees under the age of 18, students cross-registered from another institution and any high school students. No incentives were offered to students or employees for completing the survey.

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Results

The survey was distributed to 2,688 eligible students and 492 eligible employees. The total number of responses for students was 269, a rate of 10% and 157 employees, a rate of 31.9%.

Topic/Question	Students - 269	Employees - 157
Have you received written or verbal information from campus staff on the following areas: The definition of sexual assault. How to report an incident. Where to get help if you are a victim of sexual violence. Whom you can speak to confidentially. Campus policies prohibiting sexual assault.	65.1 % yes 66% yes 65.1% yes 58.9% yes 63.9% yes	90.3% yes 91.6% yes 91.6% yes 90.9% yes 88.3% yes
Do you know how to contact the campus Title IX Coordinator?	58.1% yes	98% yes
Have you been provided information for on and off campus resources?   University Police Counseling Center Local Police Local Crisis Center Local Advocacy Center	87.3% yes 68.6% yes 52.9% yes 30.4% yes 27.5% yes	98.5% yes 82.5% yes 76.6% yes 56.9% yes 43.8% yes
Have you been informed of the campus Alcohol and Drug Use Amnesty Policy?	63.7% yes	79.3% yes
You know the definition of Affirmative Consent?	82.7% yes	88.7% yes
Have you received unwanted sexually suggestive digital communication in the last year?	11.2% yes	1.5% yes – full time employees 0% yes – part time employees

 

Topic/Question	Student Response – 269
Have you experienced stalking in the past year?	3.5% yes
Have you been fondled, kissed, or rubbed up against the private areas of your body without consent in the past year?	3% yes
Experienced an intimate partner controlling or trying to control you in the past year?	3% yes
Has an intimate partner threatened to hurt you, your family, friends, or themselves in order to influence you in the past year?	3% yes
Have you filed a formal complaint with the college in the past year? If you did not file a formal complaint, why did you choose not to?	33.3% yes Did not think it was important enough – 66.7% Did not want to deal with the situation – 33.3%
Did you tell anyone that you experienced any form of sexual violence in the past year?	36.4% yes
Do you feel, if you or a friend, filed a formal complaint, there would be a fair investigation?	37.2% strongly agree. 39.2% agree. 4.5% disagree.
How likely or unlikely do you think a fellow student would tell a RA or campus authority about information they have regarding a sexual assault?	19.5% feel it is very likely. 31.2% feel it is likely. 5.9% feel it is unlikely. 4.9% feel it is very unlikely.

Next Steps

SUNY Polytechnic Institute will use the results from the SVP survey to evaluate the need for education and training, as well as noting the areas of success to ensure continued compliance. As a result of the SVP survey, SUNY Polytechnic Institute will focus on increasing information in the following areas:

• How to contact the Title IX Coordinator;
• The importance of bystander intervention;
• The SUNY Polytechnic Institute Drug and Alcohol Use Amnesty Policy;
• The dangers and safety of digital communication.
• Ways to increase future SVP survey participation.

The next Climate Survey will be administered in the Spring Semester of 2025. More information about the Survey is available at https://www.suny.edu/climatesurvey/.