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.