The UNM Women’s Resource Center has taken the first steps towards a better understanding of women’s experience at the university.
“It was a passion of mine to do a survey of what women are thinking on campus,” said Sandrea Gonzales, WRC director. Summer Little, WRC program services coordinator, joined her in that passion, and in 2005-06 they launched a university-wide climate survey which drew 1052 responses from staff, faculty and students, with representation from all UNM campuses.
“To our knowledge, nothing like this has been done [at UNM],” Little said.
She said that these types of surveys are often misunderstood as necessarily criticizing the university. The intention, she said, is positive – to assess what UNM is doing well and identify areas for further improvement.
The project soon took on mammoth proportions, but despite its small staff, the WRC rose to the challenge. “We did not cut back one of our services and programs throughout the entire process,” Little said.
Little said the most surprising data was that 829 respondents reported experiencing or knowing someone who has experienced nonsexual harassment and bullying at UNM. “We had no idea how pervasive it is,” she said. The WRC is setting up a panel and support group to address the issue in the fall.
The data for sexual harassment – 837 reports – was less of a surprise. Gonzales said that women often come to the WRC to report sexual harassment out of fear that officially reporting it might lead to retaliation. The survey results indicate that retaliation is one of the top reasons that people do not report incidents of sexual harassment.
Eleven percent of respondents were male, which Little said helped to develop the full picture. Responses to questions on safety showed striking differences: 25 percent of women feel safe walking around campus after dark and 37 percent have considered avoiding evening classes or work-related events due to fear for their safety, compared with 73 and 12 percent of men.
Little said one nice thing is that the majority of respondents expressed general satisfaction with UNM, and 80 percent said they would choose UNM again.
Other survey categories included work+life, health, accessibility, discrimination, stalking, domestic violence, sexual assault and services for women.
Based on the results, the WRC recommends establishing a permanent commission on the status of women – a proposal backed by 59 percent of survey responses – and conducting a full study on the status of women at UNM using an outside entity.
Other recommendations include re-establishing the campus crime victim advocate and staff advocate positions, an institution-wide review of orientation programs, a campus safety review, and increasing communication and education.
Visit http://www.unm.edu/~women or contact 277-3716 or women@unm.edu.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593, E-Mail: michal@unm.edu
Posted by bhendrix at June 11, 2007 01:25 PM