Column: Dialouge is a two way street

Contrary to previous publications, I don't hate Boston College.

I know my columns tend to fall into the fire-and-brimstone-social-justice category and seldom address the good things, but chalk it up to my belief that this place and the people in it are capable of being so much better than they allow themselves to be.

The potential is obvious if you look at the results of the University's Student Experience Survey released in this month's Chronicle. Overall, 87 percent of us viewed our BC experience positively, with 85 percent feeling valued as students and 84 percent feeling that they "belong to a campus community." When broken down by race, 91 percent of white students said their overall BC experience was good or excellent, with the number decreasing to 78 percent for AHANA students who thought the same.

And though these numbers look great on paper, they only matter if you know who actually took the survey. If you can't even remember receiving a survey, it's probably because the Office of Institutional Research didn't administer the survey to every student. Of the 8,856 undergrads, the survey was sent to a random sampling of 4,892 students with only 1,102 responding.

"Our BC students receive so many surveys that we have to be careful about 'survey fatigue,' which is why we did a sample versus sending the survey to every student," said Kelli Armstrong, Associate Vice President of the Office of Institutional Research in an e-mail to The Heights.

The survey was sent to all students who identified themselves to be of AHANA descent on Agora, totaling 2,061 students, of which only 395 of us responded. The random sampling of white students totaled 2,446, of which 746 responded. Roughly the same percentage of males and females were sampled, but only 36.9 percent of males answered while 63.1 percent of sampled females responded. The sampling of students by class and those who responded from each class was pretty even across the board.

This survey was the first of its kind, headed up by Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Cheryl Presley. I commend her for taking the initiative and knowing that getting pertinent survey questions would require working with a group of student leaders from the Undergraduate Government of BC, AHANA organizations, as well as other clubs.

The keyword here, however, is climate. I can understand the administration's concern of overwhelming students with surveys, but how we feel in this climate affects how we feel about everything else. That includes residential life, athletics, student activities, and everything else on which they survey us.

Armstrong said she wasn't sure if the survey would be given again this spring, but I strongly urge Presley to try it again. Especially in these tense times - a time of major development for BC - it's important to ask as many students as possible, not just some. It would help if the e-mail were more eye-catching, maybe even mandatory, and advertised to students before it was sent out.

But the burden isn't just on the administration. The glaring statistic is that only 23 percent of us who were sampled actually responded. This survey is for us, and we have to do our part by answering it. We cannot be blinded by some sense of entitlement; change does not come easily, nor does it come on a silver platter. And while this survey isn't the most aggressive of venues - certainly not one explored recently - it's still a way for us to get our voices heard.

The results show what we've been voicing all along, regardless of the fact that only a small sampling answered the survey. If anything, that's a reinforcement. Both students and non-faculty employees point to a need for more female employees, as well as people of color as both staff and students.

The employee survey especially urged more support for employees of color and a more welcoming environment for homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgenders through revising the nondiscrimination clause. Alcohol use was cited as the primary issue of concern with poor or distorted body image coming in second. These concerns are nothing new, but instead are a reminder.

Communication is a two-way street. We have the path; why don't we use it and maybe pave some new ones too?

Carolyn Mattus is a columnist for The Heights. She welcomes comments at mattusc@bcheights.com