By Elijah Barela
UNM wants to know how safe and included you feel on campus.
The Campus Climate Survey asks questions like: “In the past 12 months, how often have you been concerned about your physical safety on campus or around UNM?
The survey is intended to “capture information and perceptions on demographics, climate, institutional commitment and inclusive treatment, departmental norms, intergroup interactions, and discrimination,” according a disclosure on the survey home page.
UNM surveyed faculty in the fall of 2022 and staff in January and February of this year. The student survey is open through April 30.
“We are hoping to learn about climate and culture concerns from our UNM students so that we can design interventions, similar to our actions after sharing results of the microaggressions survey in 2021,” said Assata Zerai, UNM’s vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion.
According to Zerai, UNM based its study on the University of Michigan’s climate survey. Several higher education institutions in the United States are using this survey to evaluate the atmosphere on their campuses.
The survey takes into account the diverse communities of students who attend UNM and the results will be used to improve relationships between the college and students.
“The campus climate at UNM is as inclusive as it can be,” said student Lilly Cordova. But inclusivity is different from safety.
“There are times when it is getting later in the evening where I don’t feel as comfortable to walk across campus back into one of the parking garages,” she said.
