The 2023 Student Campus Climate and Safety and Sexual Assault Assessment survey results increased by 5%, according to Vice President for University Belonging and Student Affairs Yvonne Hernandez Friedman. 

Friedman said the survey is administered every few years, with the last one dating to 2019. In 2019, Coastal Carolina University only received a 12% response rate from students.  

The goal of the survey was to understand the student experience across 14 factors. The response rate for the survey was 17%, with most of the responses being positive and in favor of the campus’s atmosphere.  

A majority of the results were positive yet neutral. Specifically, students were neutral in their responses about how they perceive their peers and vice versa.

Friedman said this is most likely because of students who have had generally positive feelings towards a certain aspect but had one or two experiences that kept them from going completely positive.  

“To make change, it’s not going to be like a silver bullet,” she said. “It’s going to be a lot of small things in a lot of different areas to make change in all the different factors.” 

Junior digital culture and design major Gabriel Toner said he thought the amount of responses was decent and that the format of the data was well put together.  

“I think it’s pretty useful to see the numbers like this,” Toner said. “It’s a lot easier for the eyes.” 

Word of mouth was one of the main ways the survey was shared. Student Government Association (SGA) members including Ryleigh Gregory, the executive vice president, promoted the survey this way. 

According to Gregory, when she attempted to notify her peers about the climate survey, she didn’t have much trouble convincing them to take it. Before asking them about it, she gave them the opportunity to share their troubles and concerns with her.  

Despite this approach, Gregory admitted the SGA could have reached more students, starting with changing the name of the survey. 

“A lot of students had confusion because it was called a climate survey,” Gregory said. “So, I think maybe if I had a different name, it would have had a better response rate.” 

Freshman business management major Edan Ovadia said he was surprised at the low satisfaction rates, which he thinks might be related to the lack of responses from transfer students.  

“I know friends that have went to different colleges, and they have came here after transferring and prefer this college to many more that they originally chose,” Ovadia said.