27 percent is a significant number. According to the Sexual Violence Climate Study, over one quarter of all Hamline undergraduate respondents answered that they have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. It’s statistics like these that are so important to the work being done by students Brynna Morgan and Elena Anderson.

Anderson and Morgan, under the advisement of the Professor of Women’s Studies, Dr. Kristin Mapel Bloomberg, have been gathering sexual violence data for the last two years. The anonymous survey, which is sent out in April of each year, has illuminated some shocking trends in the climate at Hamline.

The group was formed in 2014 with the intention to provide the students and faculty of Hamline with more accurate data than what was currently available. Every year, Hamline publishes the Annual Fire Safety Report, which contains the university’s data regarding sexual violence as well as other information, ranging from drug policies to emergency procedures. Though the Fire Safety Report is required to disclose information, members of the Climate Study claimed that it could be improved.

“We all agreed that this was a really limited depiction of sexual violence because it only shows things that happen on actual campus,” said Morgan. “Even if things happen between Hamline students two blocks away, it doesn’t get counted.”

In addition to the narrow scope of data, members of the study argued that the information wasn’t easily obtainable by students.

“That data’s not really easy to find,” said Morgan. “We wanted to create something that was going to be more accessible for students to see and understand what the climate actually is like here.”

In the 2015 data, the study found that 65 percent of respondents identify as female, 32 percent of respondents identify as male, and 3 percent identify as trans/genderqueer/nonconforming.

31 percent are first-years, 25 percent are sophomores, 24 percent are juniors and 18 percent are seniors.

In 2014, 25 percent of students surveyed responded that they had been sexually assaulted in their lifetime. In 2015, the response was 2 percent higher. Of that 27 percent, 40 percent of incidents occurred while at Hamline.

“Our prevalence rate is either on par or slightly above average because depending on which statistics you look at, it’s either one in four or one in five,” said Mapel Bloomberg. “We’re finding, typical to the upper Midwest region, it’s closer to one in four.”

According to Mapel Bloomberg, the study uses a snowball sampling method to collect their data. Snowball sampling is a technique where current survey subjects recruit other subjects, causing the number of respondents and sample size to grow with each iteration of the survey.

The snowball method has been criticized due to its tendency for bias, especially considering that the study uses all responses in the final data. Because survey subjects recruit other subjects, it’s possible that the demographics will remain similar to those of the initial subjects. According to the study’s 2015 findings, 78 percent of respondents identified as white, while a 2015 Forbes study of Hamline reported only 70 percent.

Members of the study have striven to spread awareness of the survey, but only an approximate 25 percent of all enrolled undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students responded.

In years past, Residential Life, the Green Dot program, Hamline Athletics and a number of other offices and groups have used the study’s findings and/or worked with members of the study to spread the word.

“There have been a number of ways that we’ve tried to have people who have influence on campus be really aware of this data,” said Anderson.

This year’s survey will be available to all undergraduate students beginning April 1. To find out more about the study, contact Brynna Morgan, Elena Anderson or Dr. Mapel Bloomberg. To view 2014 and 2015 study data or learn more about the survey, go to www.thecampusclimatesurvey.wordpress.com.