On Jan. 24, students at the 5Cs received an email from their respective college presidents announcing the results of the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium’s 2023 Sexual Assault Campus Climate Survey (SACCS). These results were presented alongside an analysis of the results by the 5C HEDS SACCS working group, which is composed of members from Student Affairs, Title IX, Communications and Institutional Research.
The announcement and analysis of these results follow the survey’s administration last February and they mark continued efforts by the colleges to more fully understand and address issues of sexual assault on campus.
Anonymous and voluntary, the survey was initially designed by HEDS and was created with the purpose of exploring student perceptions of a series of things relating to sexual violence including: the climate regarding unwanted sexual contact and assault, institutional responses, experiences with interpersonal violence and the frequency of such incidents.
The survey’s purpose aligns with the overall purpose of HEDS, an organization which consists of colleges and universities throughout the United States that are dedicated to promoting undergraduate liberal arts educations, inclusive excellence and student success through the collaborative exchange of data, knowledge and expertise.
The SACCS administered at the 5Cs last February gathered responses from 17 percent of 5C students, according to the Jan. 24 email. With this in mind, head of Scripps Advocates Cecelia Blum SC ’24 cautioned community members in their use of the results.
“It’s still a very low percentage of respondents, so I wouldn’t encourage people to generalize about the 5Cs based on these survey results,” Blum said.
Along with addressing the response rate of the survey, the 5C working group’s analysis emphasized the importance of not comparing the 2023 survey results with those of previous years — the first survey results date back to 2015.
As stated in the Jan. 24 email, the Claremont Colleges have made large strides since then to make students feel safer. A full list of the changes made since the administration of the last SACCS survey in 2018 can be found in the Actions Taken report that was included in the email.
The report states that the Claremont Colleges hired administrators and investigators to oversee policies regarding Title IX, a comprehensive federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational spaces receiving federal funding.
The 7Cs also adopted a new Sexual Harassment Policy (TCC Title IX Policy). The policy prohibits sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating and domestic violence, stalking and retaliation.
In addition, the Claremont Colleges began a collaboration with the EmPOWER Center and Lavender Healing Collective, a group of trauma-trained therapists who provide student survivors with free easy access to unlimited counseling sessions.
Blum reflected on the importance of educating first-year students on sexual assault prevention and support early on in their college careers. This year, 62 percent of respondents to the SACCS who reported being assaulted at the 5Cs stated that the assault occurred during their first year at college.
“I think the red zone — the idea that most students who experience sexual assault in college experience it during their first semester — is very much a real thing,” Blum said.
However, Blum also commented on the difficulty of providing this education for students.
“We try to educate first-years, but it can be difficult just because there’s also so much other education and stuff that has to go on during orientation week,” she said. “I also think there’s only so much you can teach people when they sit in an auditorium that’s actually going to be useful and applicable as they find themselves in parties or other situations.”
In recent years, Scripps Advocates and similar 5C groups devoting to combatting sexual violence have been working with the Title IX Coordinators and the Empower Center to create a safer, more connected community on campus.
Still, Emmy Knapp PZ ’26, the newly appointed Liaison to Pitzer College’s Title IX Office, feels that more must be done to combat sexual assault levels on campus. She found that, while many resources exist across the 5Cs, there is a disconnect between these organizations and the students that they serve.
“I know resources available to students because I was a person who was willing to go ask and find them and talk to people and do something,” Knapp said. “That’s not the case for everyone.”
She suggested that Pitzer not only be a place that has resources available, but also one that advertises them well enough for students to take advantage of them. She expressed her hope that roles such as her own one, which was created during the 2023 fall semester, will help close the knowledge and communication gap between the student body and administration.
This goal was similarly expressed in the Jan. 24 email, in which the 5C presidents stated that the SACCS results would help administration more fully understand and address student concerns.
“Because of your participation, we have gained invaluable information that will help us strengthen our community and make it safer for everyone,” they wrote.
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