Dear campus community,
Thank you for sharing your time and experiences by participating in the MyVoice Survey. We are writing to give you a progress update.
The MyVoice Survey, funded by private donors and developed specially for our campus, collected information about beliefs, norms, behaviors, and incident rates. Our goal is to use this information to improve campus efforts to prevent and respond to sexual violence and harassment, relationship abuse, and stalking at UC Berkeley.
We are happy to report that we achieved the response rates necessary for the survey results to be most useful. A special thank you to the staff community, who reached the highest participation rate of all groups: 40%!
NORC, the research organization administering the survey, is currently analyzing the data. Their final report will be made publicly available to the campus community later this summer. NORC has shared a few preliminary findings with the MyVoice Survey Working Group, which we in turn would like to share here as examples of the kind of insights and information the fuller report will contain:
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Across the whole campus community, survey respondents strongly rejected victim-blaming behaviors and felt that individuals who experience violence and harassment deserve support from the campus. This suggests that the community is primed to further develop the skills to support and respond to individuals who experience harm.
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Most individuals who experienced a form of sexual violence or harassment, relationship abuse, or stalking sought support within 24 hours of the incident. We will delve deeper into these findings to learn which support resources are underused and which need to be enhanced, so that individuals seeking support receive the very best care.
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Very few students indicated that they had discussed violence and harassment in the classroom, and similarly, very few staff and academics indicated having such conversations among colleagues. This illustrates an underutilized opportunity to infuse prevention into our institutional mission.
Survey respondents were also asked about their experiences with sexual assault or harassment, relationship abuse, or stalking. The final report will include differential incidence rates across groups of community members, and across forms of violence and harassment.
The next phase of the survey is focused on actions. Over the summer, the MyVoice Survey Working Group will be engaging with cross-sections of the campus, with the goal of accompanying the release of the full report with a proposal for initial action steps. In the fall, the campus will have additional opportunities to provide input to the strategic action plan, including an event in which we will present the results of the survey and engage in dialogue about improving our campus climate as it relates to these issues. Updates, information, and opportunities to provide input will be available over the summer via myvoice.berkeley.edu
Best wishes to all for a wonderful summer!
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