Student LifeThe Buzz

Title IX and SAAT Climate Survey: Partly Cloudy

Pictured above is Julia Fogleman, who created the climate survey. Photo courtesy of Julia Fogleman.

All SAU students recently received a very important email that contained a campus climate survey. The purpose of this survey is to assess students’ awareness and willingness to use campus resources. These resources include Title IX and SAAT, as well as others. 

According to the US Department of Education, Title IX is in place to protect students from sex-based discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal financial assistance. However, it can become much more complicated. 

SAU forensic psychology senior Julia Fogleman designed the survey with the help of Tracy Matlock from AVP Institutional Research and Title IX Director Kevin Carlson. Fogleman says campus climate surveys can assess a wide range of things, from sexual assault to efficacy of campus services. 

While this survey is focused on sexual harassment and Title IX, Fogleman says that it also assesses the general health and wellness of SAU students. “We’re not just interested in sexual assault and harassment, we want to know generally, how are you doing? Are you attending class? That’s an indication of your success in school and how engaged you are.”

She further explains she got involved in developing this survey because of independent research. Fogleman plans to attend graduate school after leaving SAU, and says that having research experience will help her be ready for this venture. 

The research questions she focused on concern students’ knowledge of their resources and Title IX rights. “Do students even know what Title IX is? I know a lot of athletes know it, because they understand the gender side of it for sports, but there’s a lot more that’s relevant to students that they don’t know about.” 

In addition to her involvement in independent research, Fogleman is also a Sexual Assault Advocacy Team (SAAT) advocate. One of the goals of SAAT advocates is to help students navigate the Title IX process. 

“We tell them what their rights are, but also we are with them throughout the process, from start to finish,” she explains. “Because we don’t always know. Title IX is hundreds and hundreds of pages long. We’re learning as we go.”

However, there are sometimes concerns about the student advocates themselves. “That was a real barrier we faced in getting advocates to be active on campus, it was faculty saying, ‘Oh well they’re students, we don’t want you to be triggered,’” Fogleman says.

SAU Psychology Professor Dr. Julie Kettmann says that there is a risk of secondary trauma for individuals in helping positions such as the SAAT advocates. “Secondary trauma can mean that those in helping roles start to develop symptoms related to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This doesn’t mean they have a diagnosis of PTSD, but it could mean some symptoms.

“To prevent this or if volunteers notice they are experiencing one or some of these reactions, it’s important to make sure they are talking with supervisors and their own support group to allow themselves a chance to make sense of what they’ve experienced in their helping role, and make sure they have healthy coping skills that they’re actively using.” 

SAAT Advisor Lisa Fortner says increasing self-care for advocates is a goal as services are ramping back up after the pandemic. “We often have community advocate meetups, and are also working on developing more strategies for self care, specifically incorporating self-care nights.”

SAAT is one of the services available to students that was included in the climate survey. Other campus services such as the counseling center and health services were also included. The survey measures which services students know about and are willing to use if they need them. 

Fogleman explains that climate surveys are usually sent out every year, but SAU has not sent one out since 2016. “Unfortunately we haven’t done one in a few years because the old survey we used to use is no longer available. We had to kind of create our own survey then, and that’s kind of a big task to take on.” 

The climate survey for this year is closed, but there is more to come. Fogleman will collect the data to answer her research questions regarding students’ knowledge of Title IX and available services. 

She also says she wants to use this data to improve SAAT’s services, and hopes that other SAU faculty and administration will do the same in other areas. “The point of the climate survey is to not only have numbers, but to then utilize those numbers to make our services more efficient.” By the end of this school year, SAAT and other campus resources will have a good understanding of how they can improve moving forward. 

She also says that the climate survey can be edited, and that she plans to add more questions about sexual assault and mental health. This new version will be available for SAU to send out every year, which will make it easier to compare numbers as time progresses. 

Fogleman encourages all students to become involved with SAAT, even if they think it’s not for them. “I think it’s super important, because sexual assault is not just happening to people who are psych majors. It’s important to have these skills no matter what major you are, no matter your career path. Come talk to us!”

Anyone who is interested in joining SAAT can contact [email protected], and students who would like to personally contact a SAAT advocate can email [email protected].

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