Hamilton Students Worried about Swine Flu, Uncertain about Health Center's Response

By Bret Turner '13, Kye Lippold '10 and HamPoll Staff

A recent survey conducted by HamPoll showed swine flu significantly impacted campus life among both those who contracted the virus and those who stayed healthy. Overall, 23% of respondents said they had experienced flu-like symptoms that were diagnosed officially or that they suspected to be swine flu; of those who responded as sick, 42% did not visit the Health Center. Among students who stayed healthy, 53% were very or somewhat worried that they would come down with swine flu in the future. 39% of the total sample supported mandatory isolation of students who are sick, though only 25% of sick students supported such a measure.

A majority of respondents felt the administration had done enough in response to the outbreak (50% agreed, whereas 26% felt it hadn’t), and 64% said the administration was quick enough in providing information. The Health Center fared somewhat worse (31% approval, 39% disapproval), with many students offering strong criticism of their experiences there; as one student commented, “many people I know were refused appointments and some were forced to go the the emergency room because the Health Center could not make appropriate accommodations.” Fully 30% of sick students said the Center had done a bad job in the areas of diagnosis, prompt appointments, and adequate care. However, about a quarter of students thought the Health Center had done a good job in these areas; one student argued “they were just overrun by this swine flu thing.”The Health Center was most highly praised for its prevention information, with 56% of well students and 49% of sick students feeling it had done a good job.

The overwhelming majority of students changed their daily behavior in some way as a result of the outbreak. Among those not sick, the most common actions were washing hands more (78% of respondents) and using hand sanitizer (71%), while fully 34% of healthy respondents avoided social events. Common counter-measures undertaken by sick students included sleeping more (92%), missing class (86%), taking over-the-counter medications (80%), and avoiding social events (73%). Only 14% of sick students made use of the bagged meals program offered by Bon Appetit.

There was no substantial difference in the distribution of reported swine flu cases among different dormitories, students who had single rooms, or varsity athletes. Only 34 students (6%) admitted to having pretended or exaggerated illness to excuse themselves from class or a deadline.

The survey garnered 576 responses, for about a 33% percent response rate. The sample over-represented white students and women, while under-representing students from the Mid-Atlantic, varsity athletes, and students on financial aid.

Hamilton Students Approve of Custodians and HAVOC, Skeptical of Womyn's Center and President Stewart

By Kye Lippold and HamPoll Staff

A survey conducted in early October by HamPoll found that Hamilton students strongly approved of Custodial Services and the Burke Library, while expressing more uncertain support for President Stewart. When asked about their opinions of student groups, Hamilton students strongly liked HAVOC, HEAG, and People Who Like to Do Fun Things, while expressing disapproval of the Womyn's Center and the Social Justice Initiative.

The survey received 411 responses, or about a 23 percent response rate. The survey sample was self-selected, so results may differ from the overall population; notably, women, white students, and non-athletes were overrepresented in our sample, although the sample very closely matched Hamilton student demographics in terms of geographic distribution.

With regards to the campus institutions listed in the poll, students most highly approved of Custodial Services (89%); as one student put it, “Our custodial staff has the worst job on campus; and yet they remain so nice.” Other highly approved groups included the Burke Library (80%), the Writing Center (70%), and the Career Center (56%). Although student opinions about all institutions were positive overall, students expressed the most dissatisfaction with Campus Safety and the Health Center (50% approval and 27% disapproval for each), with similar attitudes towards Residential Life (54% approval, 22% disapproval) and the Jitney (55% approval, 17% disapproval).

Students were the most unfamiliar with the Oral Communication Center and the Quantitative Literacy Center, with 22% and 18% respectively having never heard of those institutions. President Stewart registered the lowest net approval of any institution (31% approval versus 16% disapproval and 45% indifferent); one student summed up this indifference by posing the question “What does Joan do?” Other governing bodies had generally higher approval, with 52% approving of Student Assembly and Dean of Students Nancy Thompson, and 56% approving of Dean of Faculty Joseph Urgo.

Of the several student groups polled in this survey, students most liked HAVOC (79%) and the Hamilton Environmental Action Group (63%), followed by People Who Like to Do Fun Things (61%) and the Buffers (59%). The performance groups Yodapez and Hogwarts at Hamilton were also fairly popular, being liked by 51% of students each. On the other side of the scale, the most disliked student group was the Womyn's Center (35% disliked versus 25% liked), followed by the Social Justice Initiative (25% disliked, 21% liked). A few student groups regularly mocked in campus publications also did relatively poorly in terms of approval, with 16% of students disliking the Capoeira Club and 18% disliking Knit Happens.

In terms of cultural organizations on campus, opinions from demographic groups reflected breakdowns that might be expected; women tended to like the Womyn's Center more than men (34% versus 12%, with fully 49% of men disapproving of the Womyn's Center), students of color more strongly liked the Social Justice Initiative (with 37% expressing liking versus 23% of white students), and gay, lesbian, and bisexual students liked the Rainbow Alliance (88%) more than heterosexual students (43%). However, students of color about equally approved of the Black and Latino Student Union relative to white students (overall approval 38%). Most students had no strong opinions about religious organizations, with over 58% indifferent to Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Atheist student groups.

Any student groups or campus institutions appearing in the poll that are interested in more systematic breakdowns of their support from students are welcome to contact hampoll@hamilton.edu with specific questions.