The HEDS Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey is a questionnaire for undergraduate students developed and administered by the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium, an organization of private colleges and universities that share knowledge and expertise to advance undergraduate liberal arts education, inclusive excellence, and student success. The survey asks students about their perceptions of their campus’s climate for unwanted sexual contact and sexual assault; their perceptions of how their institution responds to sexual assaults; and whether and how often they have experienced unwanted sexual contact or sexual assault.
2026 Survey Results
The survey was administered to students at St. Olaf from mid-March to mid-April 2026, and students at 24 other colleges and universities during the 2025-26 academic year. 589 St. Olaf students responded, an overall response rate of 19% (response rates were 15% for men and 19% for women; the report received from HEDS does not include separate data for nonbinary students, though their responses are included when reporting on all students). St. Olaf’s overall response rate was higher than the mean response rate of 12% for the other participating institutions; still, results should be treated with caution since St. Olaf’s response rate is likely not high enough to know whether the findings are representative of the overall student population. Nevertheless, the results provide insight into the perceptions and experiences of many St. Olaf students and their counterparts at other colleges. This survey was also administered previously in 2023, 2020, and 2017.
2023 Survey Results
The 2023 survey was administered to students at St. Olaf in November 2023*, and students at 96 other institutions during either the 2021-22, 2022-23, or 2023-24 academic years. 350 St. Olaf students responded (9% of men, 11% of women, and 58% of nonbinary students), with an overall response rate of 11%.
*This timing was different than our usual survey administration timing due to a significant sexual harassment incident on campus in spring 2023. Given the likelihood that this would result in skewed survey results, we delayed the survey to the following fall
For results from prior survey years, contact IE&A.