Campus climate surveys have become an important tool for universities in the battle against sexual assault on campus.
The White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, in its April 2014 report "Not Alone," gave the higher education community a strong hint by writing: "We urge schools to show they’re serious about the problem by conducting the survey next year."
The task force characterizes regular climate surveys as "a best-practice response to campus sexual assault" and recommends that schools use them to examine the prevalence and incidence of sexual assault on campus, and to assess students’ perceptions of a university’s response to sexual assault.
In the wake of the task force’s report, although climate surveys are not yet required by law, colleges would be ill advised to ignore the drumbeat of support for climate surveys by the federal government.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/05/21/campuses-need-be-prepared-produce-sexual-assault-surveys-essay