Results for HamPoll Questions on Gender Neutral Housing

By Kye Lippold, HamPoll Co-Chair

From February 25th to March 1st, 2010, the student survey group HamPoll posed a number of questions about gender neutral housing at Hamilton College to students who responded to a survey about Departments and Majors. The results suggest a majority of the student body favors gender neutral housing, which the survey specified as “a housing arrangement in which students of different genders would be allowed to share a room.”

Familiarity with Gender Neutral Housing

A majority of respondents expressed familiarity with gender neutral housing, as can be seen in the following chart.

Support for Gender Neutral Housing

277 students supported making gender neutral housing available at Hamilton, a slim majority of the sample (55%, shown in the following chart). However, only 14% (59 students) were opposed, with the remaining 31% unsure or expressing disinterest.

To further analyze support for gender neutral housing, HamPoll constructed a statistical model that examined how support for gender neutral housing varied as a function of demographic factors. The model revealed that gay, lesbian, and bisexual students were 35% more likely than straight students to support gender neutral housing, while liberal students were 14% more likely to support the idea than moderates or conservatives. Support for gender neutral housing also increased with self-identified familiarity with the issue, with students who were “very familiar” with gender neutral housing being 41% more likely and those “somewhat familiar” 24% more likely to support the issue than those who were less familiar. These results control for sex, class year, race, Greek society membership, financial aid status, varsity sport membership, grades (A student versus non-A student), place of residence (from New York State or not) and attending public or private high school; students from all these groups showed no significant differences in responses.

Types of Gender Neutral Housing Preferred

HamPoll sought to more closely examine the type of gender neutral housing policy that students favored by asking students to pick which of the following options they preferred more: “Allowing students of different genders to share a room anywhere on campus” or “Allowing students of different genders to share a room in specific dorms, similar to current substance-free housing policies.” Overall, 35% of respondents favored the first (all-campus) option; 41% favored limiting gender neutral housing to specific dorms; 15% were not sure; and 9% did not care about the issue.

Notably, among the subset of students who supported a gender neutral housing policy (227 students, or 55% of the sample), 55% (125 students) supported making gender neutral housing available across campus, while 38% (86 students) supported gender neutral housing in certain dorms. While this represented a stronger preference for the entire-campus option among gender neutral housing supporters than among non-supporters, these results suggest some divisions regarding how supporters thought a gender neutral housing policy should best be implemented.

When controlling for demographic variables and familiarity with the issue, men were 12% more likely than women to support an all-campus policy, while juniors were 14% less likely than other class years to support a broad-based implementation. Other demographic variables did not lead to significant differences in preferences for one policy or the other.

Characteristics of the Survey Sample

The survey received 414 valid responses, representing about one-quarter of the student body. The survey sample was self-selected, so results may differ from the overall population; notably, the sample contained a higher proportion of women and white students and fewer varsity athletes and Mid-Atlantic residents than the Hamilton student body in general. However, this pattern of results is largely consistent with previous HamPoll surveys, implying that interest in particular topics on this survey did not strongly skew responses towards one subgroup.

Demographic Group	Percentage of Students in Survey Sample	Percentage of Students at Hamilton*
Female students	64	52
Male students	35	48
Students of color	14.7	16.5
White students	81.1	70.4
Financial aid recipients	50	50
Students without aid	45	50
Varsity athletes	18	About 35-40
Mid-Atlantic residents	42	48
New England residents	28	29
International students	4.8	6.2
*Demographics drawn from Hamilton Admissions website (data for 2008-9). Note: percentages may not add to 100% due to exclusion of “Prefer not to answer” and “Other” responses.

Conclusions

A majority of Hamilton students favored gender neutral housing in HamPoll's survey, with students who were more familiar with the issue expressing more support. However, students were divided on whether to implement such a policy across campus or in specific residence halls.

Questions about methodology or data may be directed to Kye Lippold or David Foster, HamPoll Co-Chairs, at hampoll@hamilton.edu.

Hookups and Long-Distance Relationships Prevalent at Hamilton

By Kye Lippold, HamPoll Co-Chair

A survey conducted in mid-February by HamPoll offers a unique perspective into the details of the dating scene at Hamilton. Among the primary findings were that students widely believed that short-term relationships were easier to attain than long-term relationships, and that 18% of Hamilton students were in long-distance relationships.

Many students reported a culture conducive to hookups over long-term relationships; among students who had an opinion about both relationship types, 70% of students said it was difficult to find new long-term relationship partners at Hamilton but easy to find short-term partners. However, 61% of students said they would prefer to settle down with one person during their college years rather than  “play the field” (17% preferred the latter, with 21% not sure).  There was no gender difference on this question, with all demographic groups about equally likely to prefer settling down with one person (except for seniors, who were 17% more likely to prefer to play the field).

A lack of romantic opportunities could be a factor in Hamilton students' difficulty finding partners; 54% of students thought there were not enough events on campus where couples could go on dates, versus 20% who thought there were enough opportunities. However, dating at Hamilton was relatively infrequent, with 31% of dating students not in long-distance relationships reporting going on dates with their partner once per week or more, 29% going on dates a few times per month and 38% going out a few times per semester or less often.

43% of respondents reported being in a relationship, with 51% of dating students having been in their relationship for one year or longer and 70% of them having met their current partner at Hamilton. Half of all dating students reported knowing their partner for less than three months before going out, while the other half knew their partner for a longer period prior to dating. On the other end of the spectrum, 10% of the sample reported never having been in a relationship. When asked why they were not currently in a relationship, only 12% of single students reported that they were not interested in a relationship; the most common response was being unable to “find the right person,” with 38% of respondents offering this reason.

Groups more likely to be in relationships included students in Greek societies (13% more likely than non-Greek students), “A” students (9% more likely than students with lower grades), Darkside students (13% more likely than Lightsiders), students who thought intelligence was “very important” in a partner (10% more likely than those valuing intelligence less), and students who had been in at least two relationships in their lives (19% more likely than those with less experience). Men who identified as gay or bisexual were less likely than other students to say they were in relationships (32% less likely on average), while students who preferred to play the field rather than settle down with one person were 15% less likely to be dating.

Fully 42% of those in relationships (18% of the entire sample) reported that their relationship was long-distance, a substantial subgroup. Students on varsity sports teams were 18% more likely to be in long-distance pairings when controlling for other factors, while students who met their partner at Hamilton were 75% less likely.

Students in relationships reported spending a median of 2.5 hours per day with their partner, with substantial variation (90% of students reported spending from less than one to six hours per day). Students in long-distance relationships spent only about one fewer hour per day with their partner than those not in long-distance relationships, while those dating someone they met at Hamilton spent one hour per day more. Grayside students spent about an hour more with their partners than Lightsiders or Darksiders, as did students who found physical appearance very important when choosing a partner. Those who preferred to “play the field” spent 1.2 fewer hours per day with their partners on average.

The survey received 546 responses, for about a 31 percent response rate. Women and white students were overrepresented in the survey sample, while students on financial aid and international students were underrepresented; however, this pattern was consistent with previous HamPoll surveys, suggesting selection bias related to the survey topic may have been a relatively minor issue.

Media Outreach

As our readers may notice, we have recently added a Facebook Page and a Twitter feed to streamline our process of providing updates about survey results. We welcome everyone to follow us on Twitter or become our fan on Facebook by using our widgets to the right.

Hamilton students divided over Great Names and printing; oppose ice rink

By David Foster '10, Kye Lippold '10, and HamPoll Staff

The latest HamPoll student survey shows that a plurality of respondents, 45 percent, would prefer that Hamilton host a second-tier Great Names speaker this semester, while only 35 percent favor canceling the lecture and using the money next year as outlined in the plan announced by the administration. While varsity athletes and A students were willing to wait, 65 percent of seniors called for a speaker this semester. This result reflects many seniors' concerns about losing an important part of their Hamilton experience without a Great Names lecture in their final year; as one senior put it in a comment to the survey, “seniors are missing out entirely as a result of the recent decision.” Several students also expressed regret at the lack of a speaker when the program is, as one student put it, “one that Hamilton advertises as one of its most attractive functions.”

The HamPoll survey allowed respondents to write in a response to the question of what the college should do about the Great Names lecture; 6.4 percent of students wrote in an answer, with the results summarized in the accompanying chart.

Students also expressed their opinions about what types of speakers they would like to see in a Great Names lecture. Comedy and politics led the list with support from about 75 percent of respondents, followed by theatre or film, music, and literature (with only 20 percent expressing interest in religion). Additionally, 56 percent of respondents indicated that the speaker's fame was important or very important in deciding whether to attend the lecture. Controlling for various demographic factors suggests that seniors were much less likely to express interest in fame, again likely due to concerns about having a speaker at all.

The survey also asked students their opinions about some other contentious issues on campus. Students were divided on the new print management program, with 43 percent calling it reasonable and 54 percent calling it unreasonable. However, most students wanted printing prices charged after exceeding the quota to be set lower than the current proposal of 15 cents, with 22 percent calling for 10 cents, 54 percent for 5 cents, and 14 percent writing in a request for no charge whatsoever.

Regarding the outdoor ice rink in the Dunham Quad, fully 90 percent of respondents thought the rink was a bad use of Student Assembly funds. Out of the 500 respondents, 7 students (1.4 percent) said they had used the rink, while 56 (11.2 percent) intended to use it and 87 percent of students had no intention of using the rink.

The survey received 500 responses, for about a 29 percent response rate. The sample over-represented white students and women relative to the overall Hamilton population, while most other demographics were comparable.

Hamilton Students Closely Follow Spectator and Duel Observer

By Kye Lippold, HamPoll Co-Chair

A survey conducted in early October 2009 by HamPoll found that the Spectator and Duel Observer were the most popular Hamilton publications, while the Daily Bull and the (now defunct) Afternoon Delight brought up the rear of students' acclaim.

We further analyzed the data by breaking down responses among demographic categories (specifically: gender, race, financial aid status, class year, location of hometown, living on the darkside or lightside, playing sports, being in a Greek society, and political leanings). The following groups of students were especially likely to read each publication (reading “most issues” or more) relative to other groups in each category:

• The Spectator was read most often by students in Greek societies (77% of Greeks read the Spec often, versus 58% of non-Greeks), and students from the Northeast (66% of local students versus 50% of others). Students on financial aid were less likely to read the Spectator (57%) than students without aid (65%).
• The Daily Bull was especially popular among Darksiders (37% frequent readers, versus 26% of others).
• Senior students were less likely to often read the Duel Observer (only 52%) than those in earlier class years (70%). The Duel was also slightly less popular among students of color (61%) than among white students (69%).
• Students in Greek societies were more likely to read the Continental (47% versus 32%). Firstyears and sophomores were less likely to read this publication (likely influenced by the fact that the survey was fielded before the Continental released that semester's issue).
• The Green Apple was not read often by any group; only liberals were marginally more likely to read it than moderate or conservative students, 26% versus 14%.
• Afternoon Delight was not much read by students of color, only 16% of whom read it often (versus 34% of white students).
• Red Weather was more popular among students on financial aid, 24% versus 14%.
• The Wag was the least read publication on campus, only read by 11% of students. This number was probably further decreased because the Wag had not published when this survey was fielded.

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.

Supplemental Graph

Preliminary Results from HamPoll's Survey on Campus Climate

By Kye Lippold and HamPoll Staff

From November 19th to 23rd, 2009, the student group HamPoll conducted an online survey of student opinions about bias incidents on campus, sex education, and issues related to campus climate and values. We present results for the questions related to campus climate in this report.

The survey was submitted to all students by email, and received 422 responses, or about a 25% response rate. The demographics of the survey sample are relatively close to the demographics of the Hamilton student body, as indicated in the chart below:

Thus, the sample underrepresented male students, varsity athletes, and Mid-Atlantic residents, while over-representing white students and female students. Residents from other geographic areas were appropriately represented, and responses were almost evenly split by class year.

I. Feelings on Hamilton as a Welcoming Environment
We asked students about their opinions on whether Hamilton was a environment that was welcoming to them personally and to various social groups. The results, presented below, suggest students viewed students of color, low-income students, and gay or lesbian students as less welcome on campus than others.

II. Views on Shared Values
We asked students about a list of values that might be seen as widely shared at Hamilton. Students were asked about both how widespread they thought those values were among members of the Hamilton community, and to what extent they personally agreed with those values. The results suggest that in most cases students perceived the listed values as less widespread than they actually were among the sample—implying that students underestimated those values' actual prevalence. The notable exception was views on underage drinking, which were assumed to be more universally held than they were by this sample.

The questions:
Members of the Hamilton community have different opinions about which values are widely shared by the community. Please indicate which of the following values you believe are widely agreed upon at Hamilton, regardless of whether or not you personally agree with those values. 
and
Do you personally agree or disagree with the following values? 

The values we asked about were as follows:
• Drinking alcohol before the age of 21 is acceptable
• Work should always come first, even if it means less spare time
• Having an open curriculum is a better choice than stricter distribution requirements
• Physical education is an important component of the academic program
• Violating the Honor Code is never justified
• Hamilton should attempt to minimize its impact on the environment
• Professors and student groups should be free to bring controversial speakers to campus
• Ethnic diversity enriches the intellectual life of the College
• Students should govern themselves to the greatest extent feasible
• It is important for students to contribute to the local community

III. Views on Shared Experiences
Hamilton students were close to evenly divided on the question of whether Hamilton offered too few or enough shared experiences, although less than 1% of the sample thought there were too many such events.

The question: Some people think Hamilton offers too few experiences that are shared by the whole community, while others say Hamilton students are bonded by experiences like orientation, Class and Charter Day, and FebFest. Which comes closer to your view?

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.

Archives...

I've uploaded all the old HamPoll analyses I could find to this blog. If you're interested in what the Hamilton student body has been thinking since 2006, please browse through the archives to the right.

First-Year Students Find Transition to Hamilton Easy

By Kye Lippold '10 and Bret Turner '13

A survey of first-year students conducted last week by HamPoll observed that first-years generally found the transition to college life easy. However, alcohol and Greek life occupied a much greater role in the campus social scene than incoming freshmen expected, and first-years generally found Hamilton more diverse than their own community.

The social scene at Hamilton proved to dominated by alcohol and Greek organizations more than first-years expected before they arrived. While 37% of first-years initially expected alcohol to play a major role in campus social life, 64% thought it played a major role after they arrived at Hamilton. The same held for fraternities and sororities, with 36% of students expecting them to play a moderate or major role on campus before arrival, and 66% concluding they actually played such a role. Marijuana, other illegal drugs, and casual sex were all about 10% more prevalent than students expected.

When asked about their experience adjusting to college life overall, 82% of first-year students found the experience easier or about the same as they expected. However, among the minority that reported a harder transition than their expectations, 21% of women found the transition harder compared to 10% of men.

This difference by gender was mirrored when first-years reported their ease of making friends. While 83% of students found making friends as easy as they expected, women were more likely to report finding social connections hard (20%) relative to men (10%). Students from further abroad were also more likely to have a difficult time making friends, with 26% of students from outside the Northeast reporting this, versus 13% of students from New York, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic. Students living in different dorms on campus reported generally the same level of ease in making friends relative to their expectations.

Respondents from the first-year class reported strong study habits, with 34% spending more than four hours on coursework per day. This workload somewhat exceeded their expectations, with only 25% expecting to work four or more hours per day prior to their arrival on campus.

When asked about the diversity of Hamilton relative to their home community, 48% said Hamilton was more diverse than their home, while 26% said Hamilton was less diverse. However, this question showed a sharp distinction by racial background while controlling for other demographics; students who identified as only white were 53% likely to say Hamilton was more diverse than their home community, versus 25% of students from other or multiple ethnic groups.

This distinction also applied to respondents' views of their groups of friends; students of color and varsity athletes were more likely to view their friends at Hamilton as less diverse than their groups of friends at home (with 46% and 33% taking this view, respectively, compared to 23% of the entire sample).

Notably, first-years in this survey viewed Hamilton as more diverse than did first-years in 2007. Thirty-six percent of respondents from the Class of 2011 viewed Hamilton as less diverse than their home communities in a HamPoll survey at that time, compared to 26% of the Class of 2013. This suggests a greater perception of diversity among the most recent first-year class.

The survey, specifically targeted to the Class of 2013, received 126 responses, or about a 26% response rate. The survey sample was self-selected, so results may differ from the overall population.

Some other findings:

Scholarly pursuits such as intellectual debate and studying with others were pursued at rates similar to what students expected. Fourteen percent of students thought intellectual debate played a major role in social life, and 36% held this view for studying with others.

First-years generally expressed positive opinions of their roommates, with 76% viewing their roommates in a positive fashion, and only 6% having a negative impression.

While students generally found interacting with professors and getting involved in extracurriculars easier than they expected, 55% found it harder to travel off campus than they anticipated.

41% of students found that the dining experience exceeded their expectations, with only 9% thinking it was worse.

Attending Adirondack Adventure, a first-year pre-orientation program, was not associated with a significant increase in the perceived ease of making friends relative to expectations.

Regarding that venerable campus institution, the Varsity Streaking Team, only 10% of students in the sample had not heard of the team before they came to campus. Three respondents out of 126 had never heard of the team at all.


Tabulations for Graphs

Activity	Percent Expecting a “Major Role” in Social Life	Percent Currently Viewing as a “Major Role” in Social Life
Alcohol	37	64
Marijuana	6	11
Other illegal drugs	0	2
Casual sex	9	14
Fraternities and sororities	6	18
Intellectual debate	17	14
Studying with others	31	35
Extracurricular activities	55	58
Religious activities	2	2
Athletic events	21	26

Activity	Percent Expecting Minor or No Role in Social Life	Percent Currently Viewing as Minor or No Role in Social Life
Alcohol	13	11
Marijuana	63	49
Other illegal drugs	87	76
Casual sex	54	45
Fraternities and sororities	63	33
Intellectual debate	32	37
Studying with others	14	17
Extracurricular activities	4	10
Religious activities	78	70
Athletic events	24	25

Hamilton Students Not Offended by Party Invitations: But Strong Support for Statement of Community Values, Offense at Car Incident

By Kye Lippold '10, David Foster '10, and Bret Turner '13

A survey conducted last week by HamPoll: Hamilton's Polling Organization, a student group that queries the student body about important topics, found that most students were not offended by the recent contentious party invitations on campus. However, students expressed considerable concern about the latest incident of campus vandalism, strongly supported a Statement of Community Values being distributed to first-years, and expressed plurality support for a Cultural Education Center.

The survey was open to the entire student body and received 584 responses. The survey sample was self-selected and thus differs slightly from the overall population; specifically, the sample includes a greater proportion of women than the student body at large and contains slightly lower percentages of multicultural students and varsity athletes. Also, 24% of students who responded reported attending a campus discussion or protest related to the incidents, which likely reflects a higher response rate among students who felt passionately about the invitations. Results are expressed in terms of percentages of respondents, and may not add to 100% due to the exclusion of “don't know” responses.

Overall, survey respondents were not offended by either the recent “Golf Pros and Tennis Hos” party invitation or last semester's contentious “Mexican Night” party invitation, which aroused protests from students and discussion by faculty. For both invitations, 18% of respondents indicated they were offended. However, while 69% of respondents indicated they were not offended by the “Golf Pros” invitation (the remaining responses consisted of “not sure” responses or responses from individuals who had not heard of the invitations), fewer (55%) of students were not offended by the “Mexican Night” invitation. The difference can be primarily explained by the fact that 17% of students had not heard of the “Mexican Night” invitation (of which 80% were first-year students); excluding first-year students, 66% were not offended. Thus, neither party invitation aroused substantial offense.

In line with these results, respondents generally viewed the student body's reaction to the invitations as an over-reaction, with 59% taking this view for “Golf Pros” and 57% for “Mexican Night.” Views of the administration's response were split between over-reaction (36% and 40%, for “Golf Pros” and “Mexican Night” respectively) and “about right” (28% and 42%). Faculty responses were only queried in the case of “Mexican Night,” as that event involved discussion at a faculty meeting; 40% of respondents thought the faculty over-reacted, while 27% though the response was about right. Fewer than 10% of respondents viewed any of the groups' reactions to either party as an under-reaction, respectively.

Breaking down results by various demographic groups revealed some important differences in reactions to the party invitations. Sixteen percent of students who identified only as Caucasian were offended by “Mexican Night,” but 26% of students from other or multiple ethnic groups were offended; the results were similar for “Golf Pros.” A smaller but significant division was observed for men and women, with women 8% more likely (21%) to view the invitations as offensive relative to men (13%). Women were also more likely to be unsure about their level of offense, as 65% of men viewed the invitation as not offensive, versus only 48% of women. Students who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual were significantly more likely to be offended by the “Golf Pros” invitation, expressing offense at rates of 38% versus 17% of heterosexual students.

In addition to these divides among identity groups, several campus demographics reported different responses to the invitations. Students on financial aid were more likely to be offended by both invitations (25% each) than students not on financial aid (about 10% each); this result held after controlling for race, sex, and other variables in a linear regression. Varsity athletes were less likely to report offense at both invitations, with a mere 9% reporting offense relative to 22% of non-athletes. These results were almost identical to those for members of Greek organizations, who reported offense at rates comparable to athletes.

Responses to the incident in which a car was vandalized with a homophobic slur were much more uniformly disapproving. 75% of students were offended by the incident, while only 15% were not offended. Differences among demographic groups were more muted on this question, with no clear racial differences and strong majorities offended overall. However, lesbian, gay, and bisexual students were almost universally offended by the slur (91%), 10% more women were offended than men, and 10% more varsity athletes reported being not offended than non-athletes. Students thought that reaction to the vandalism was about right on the part of both the student body (50%) and the administration (59%); 33% and 24% viewed the response as an under-reaction, respectively.

Finally, the survey provided a measure of student support for a variety of proposals related to diversity and community values. Over 60% of students were opposed to the prospects of both a Diversity Intensive requirement (described as a “course requirement which would function similarly to the Writing Intensive requirement but would be applied to courses in which students studied issues related to other cultures or diversity”) and requiring party invitations to be approved by an administrator. Conversely, 67% of students supported a plan to “distribute a Statement of Community Values to incoming freshmen which would articulate shared values for behavior at Hamilton.” Support for a Social Honor Code (described as “a binding statement which would require students to confront one another by initiating respectful dialogue about offensive acts, or face judicial consequences”) and a “Cultural Education Center whose goal would be to encourage discussion about diversity” were both closely split; 40% of respondents supported the Social Honor Code, with 45% opposed; and 42% supported a Cultural Education Center, with 30% opposed and 26% having no opinion.


Respondents also supported the prospect of increasing the number of cameras in parking lots, with 21% supporting more cameras to prevent future hate crimes, 33% supporting them for another reason, 21% opposed to new cameras, and 21% holding no opinion.

Overall, Hamilton students who responded to the survey indicated a sense that the response to party invitations was overblown. However, an overwhelming majority of students were offended by the incident of vandalism, and support is strong for some form of action in the form of a Statement of Community Values. Respondents demonstrated differences based on their race, sex, sexual orientation, financial aid status, athletics participation, and Greek organization membership; these divergences in opinion provide an insightful look at the factors that influence attitudes at Hamilton.

HamPoll welcomes student feedback at hampoll@hamilton.edu. The organization meets Wednesdays at 8pm in KJ 103.

New Blog

Welcome, all, to the new blog for HamPoll, a student group at Hamilton College that conducts surveys of the student body about important issues on campus. Stay tuned for more updates on future surveys!

Hamilton Students Let Academic Resources Go To Waste

By Yoshihiko Kubota, Xiyue Li, and Kye Lippold

Hamilton students have similar study habits regardless of class year, gender, majors, and across both sides of campus, according to 472 students who responded to an anonymous online survey conducted by Hampoll last week. The breakdown of the respondents by class was 27% seniors, 22% juniors, 25% sophomores, and 25% freshmen, while 41% were male and 59% were female.

Around 33% of respondents identified themselves as having lived mostly on the darkside since freshmen year, while another 46% said they have lived mostly on the lightside. The vast majority of students, 80.1%, study between one hour and five hours a day (35.8% between one and three hours and 45.5% between three and five hours) with a slight skew towards longer study hours. Most students (70%) study from 6 pm to midnight; Freshmen are the most likely (22%) to study during the afternoon (12-6pm), while Juniors stay up the latest, with 78% staying up to midnight and 9% studying after midnight.

While study hours did not differ significantly between darksiders and lightsiders, study locations showed a distinct difference by campus side (see chart below). While 52.7% of lighsiders preferred to study either in the Science Center or the library, only 14.8% of darksiders chose those places to study. On the contrary, 32.3% of the darksiders opted to study in KJ while 50.3% preferred to work in their dorms. Thus, students prefer study locations close to where they live. Other spots to study mentioned by students included the common room of dorms, Café Opus and the third floor of the Chapel.

Friday nights, often considered a synonym for partying, are apparently not as wild for high-performing students. About 69% of students never study on Fridays, but students who receive A's in their classes were 10% more likely than B students to give up their Friday nights. Studying on Friday nights was an area that darksiders and lightsiders disagreed on, as 34.8% and 27.8% respectively study on those nights. Despite partying, most Hamilton students devoted more time to their academic pursuits; the majority student responses for time spent on different activities indicate 1-3 hours spent on extracurricular activities daily, 1-3 hours on leisure, 6-8 hours asleep, and 3-5 hours studying.

Other notable facts about study habits at Hamilton are that 63% listen to music while studying, that a little over 10% of students prefer to study in groups, and that 68% of the student population have not missed any classes this semester without appropriate reasons. Similarly, about two thirds of students did not report doing work for one class while attending class for a different subject. Most Hamilton students start working on major assignments in the week before the deadline (see chart below), and A students were 21% likely to start assignments more than a week before deadline, compared to 13% of B students.

When asked about their use of academic resources, students gave mixed results. The student body is evenly split between those who attend lectures and those who do not, as 47% identified themselves as attending lectures sometimes (8.3% often), while 47% attended rarely or never. Seniors were more likely to attend such events than underclassmen. Students also used the Q-Lit Center, the Writing Center, the Oral Communications Center, and the Language Lab sparsely, as not a single one of these resources was used often by more than 8% of the student body. Regarding other academic resources, the internet was the number one resource for studying; 83.3% used it often, followed by 69.5% using the library (including digital resources), and 61.2% frequently attended professors' office hours.

Hamilton Students Voice Opinions, Appreciate EMTs

By Michael Gregg, Yoshihiko Kubota, and Xiyue Li

278 students took a HamPoll survey evaluating campus facilities between the dates of April 9th and April 12th, 2008. 59% were female, 41% male, and the sample comprised 62 freshmen, 84 sophomores, 54 juniors and 78 seniors. As a student at Hamilton one gradually gets a feel for how students perceive the campus facilities, and many of the survey’s response trends confirm these word-of-mouth perceptions. Even so, the statistics might surprise you.

Almost one quarter of students expressed dissatisfaction with the medical care and advice at the Health Center, and more than 3 out of every 5 students felt the Health Center needs to stay open longer hours. Campus Safety found overwhelming support; 90% of students expressed satisfaction with their response time to emergencies. Students also love their EMTs, with two thirds of respondents voicing satisfaction and the other third having no experience with the EMT service.

The mail center has mostly pleased students, though one third of respondents preferred the old, card-based package notification system. A full quarter of Light Side students expressed dissatisfaction with the timeliness of snow plowing in the winter. While this in itself is unfortunate, it pales in comparison to the three quarters of Dark Siders similarly dissatisfied. Perhaps the strategy employed in plowing the Dark Side needs to be rethought.

On the bright side, over 90% of respondents reported that their dorms were pleasantly clean. In fact, the question concerning satisfaction with the cleaning job in one’s dorm showed the heaviest skew towards the “very satisfied” answer; make sure you take a moment to thank your janitors for the good work they do.

Of those who have used the Writing Center, around 4 of every 5 students feel their writing has improved from its services. Though only around a half of students have taken advantage of the Career Center’s resources (resume/cover letter help, career choice guidance), most of those who have value their time there. Most students have never been to the Oral Communication Lab or Quantitative Literacy Center, and the rest visit these facilities only rarely. Of the few who have gone, slightly more expressed dissatisfaction than satisfaction.

Despite all of the complaining your friends may do, students tended to express satisfaction with Bon Appétit’s service. 50% were satisfied, 18% dissatisfied, and the rest neutral.

Publication	Satisfaction	Dissatisfaction
The Continental	15%	61%
The Daily Bull	21%	59%
The Duel Observer	52%	18%
HamPoll	45%	15%
The Spectator	39%	27%

Finally, when asked to express satisfaction with campus publications and media, students confirmed previous trends by preferring The Duel Observer, HamPoll and The Spectator to The Continental and The Daily Bull. For each publication, the remaining percentage expressed neutrality.

Here are some responses to the prompt for comments:

• The EMTs are a great group of individuals who do a great deal for this campus.
• My thesis sucks.
• Thank you Dale the Custodian!!!
• The EMTs should get paid or some other form of compensation. Its [sic] ridiculous that they get little to no recognition for all that they do.
• Please plow Bundy next winter, thanks.

Hamilton Students Support Obama

By Tamim Akiki, Yoshihiko Kubota, and Xiyue Li

Barack Obama garnered 55.6% support as the most likely candidate to win the presidential election from the 409 Hamilton students who participated in an online survey conducted prior to Super Tuesday. This percentage far exceeds those of John McCain and Hilary Clinton, who received 22.3% and 21.8% support respectively. 

The population who took the survey identified themselves as 55% Democratic, 13.2% Republican, and 23.7% Independent. Caucasians made up 87.8%, Black/African Americans 2.0%, Latino/Latina/Hispanic 2.0%, Asians 3.9%, Native Americans 0.5%, and 3.9% other. Males consisted of 46.9% and females 53.1%. Interest in the primaries was high, as 93% of respondents felt at least somewhat acquainted with the issues, including 40% who considered themselves to be well acquainted.

The qualities most important in the decision to vote in the primaries were the candidates’ position on important issues (93% considered it very important), the candidates’ personal integrity (73%) and the candidates’ experience (33.7%). The candidates’ political party was not considered to be of major importance, and support for Obama was prevalent throughout the student population: 59.5% of self-identified Democrats, 46.3% Independents, and even 40% of Republicans supported him over the other candidates. The support from self-identified Republicans was most surprising as Obama came within 5 votes of beating the Republican candidate, John McCain. Also, while the focus of the Democratic primaries has been at times shifted to one of Female candidate vs African American candidate, there was no significant correlation between support for Obama or Clinton with race or gender. The great majority of respondents felt that the United States is ready for either a female or a black president. Further, 90% of respondents felt that Obama will perform as President better than the current President. This percentage compares with 81% for Hilary Clinton, 81% for John McCain, 28% for Mike Huckabee, and 24% for Mike Gravel.

As for issues concerning the primaries, only 10% of respondents believe the Bush tax cuts should be permanent for all, while 75% believe there should either be a path for illegal immigrants to citizenship or a guest worker program, and 60.1% support federally mandated universal healthcare coverage. There was no correlation between the respondents’ opinion on these issues with the candidate they support. However, there was a slight difference in the issues of most importance amongst respondents supporting each candidate. The top three issues Obama supporters care about were the Iraq war, environment, and the economy; McCain supporters the Iraq war, economy, and taxes; Clinton supporters the Iraq war, economy, and health care; and Huckabee supporters the Iraq war, health care, and abortion.

One Third of Hamilton Students Dissatisfied with Treatment of Diversity on the Hill

By Michael Gregg and HamPoll Staff

 

In October 448 students took a HamPoll survey concerning racial and ethnic issues on the Hamilton campus. Participants were asked to identify their genders, class years, nationalities and racial or ethnic identities at the start of the survey, and the members of HamPoll correlated the answers to a set of questions on diversity with these characteristics. 

32% of the student body answered that issues of racial and ethnic diversity were insufficiently addressed in the classroom. Broken down, 60% of non-whites expressed dissatisfaction compared to 24% of whites. Among several possible strategies suggested to remedy this, non-whites in particular believed inviting speakers to talk about diversity and inflicting more severe punishment on transgressions would be most effective. Students in general also called for better peer education.

One question involved rating the importance of several characteristics in defining one’s personality, and the differences here were noticeable. 46% of non-whites said that their race was very important to them, compared to only 8% of whites. Other elements such as ethnicity, intelligence/education, family/friends, gender and religion did not vary appreciably, and sexual orientation did not vary at all.

97% of non-whites said issues of racial/ethnic diversity are important to their education at Hamilton, versus only 75% of whites. Similar differences occurred between males and females, with 85% of females finding importance in these issues and only 66% of males. Still, the overwhelming majority of the campus seems to believe these issues important to their education.

Non-whites were strongly more in favor of Hamilton adopting a requirement for each student to complete a course increasing awareness of diversity on the Hill. Among non-whites, 22% reported their opinions being ignored in class due to their ethnic or racial origin (compared to 4% of whites), and 37% reported the same offense occurred outside of class (compared to 12% of whites).

4% of students have seriously considered leaving Hamilton because their race or ethnicity was not respected. 4% of students likewise reported that they’d considered dropping a class for similar reasons. The vast majority of students have not had such doubts. 

Ever the romantics, 57% of Hamilton students have either dated or seriously considered dating students of other races or ethnicities, though non-whites were significantly more open on this front. 44% of students said that Hamilton overall is more diverse than their home communities.

Views on Hamilton’s Media Outlets

By Tamim Akiki and HamPoll Staff

The survey was conducted between January 30^th and February 4^th by Hamilton’s Polling Organization. Two hundred and ten students participated in the survey, and their views on Hamilton’s media outlets are summarized in this issue. HamPoll would like to thank the student body for continuing to support our surveys and to emphasize that our role is simply to document the views and opinions of students. For this survey, we believe that all Hamilton media outlets have hard-working teams behind them and we hope that this information will be useful to them in understanding what the student body is estimated to like and dislike.

 

1. The Right:

With over 69% of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with The Right, this publication ranks fourth among Hamilton’s media outlets. In addition, despite the low 5% Democratic satisfaction with The Right, the Republican equivalent remains low in absolute terms (38%) indicating a general lack of enthusiasm about this newsletter. Lastly, The Right needs to advertise itself on a larger scale as more than 50% of all respondents did not have an opinion about it, a rate second only to that of WHCL (51%). If we isolate those who did not have an opinion, then The Right ranks first is dissatisfaction with 72%. Unfortunately, it also ranks last (16%) in terms of usefulness to the Hamilton Community with support from 43% of Republican student respondents and only 7% of Democrats.

2. The Daily Bull:

The Daily Bull is a very polarizing newsletter. In details, it was able to garner the satisfaction of 45% of the 210 DIFFERENT Hamilton students. This left 53% of the responses expressing dissatisfaction with Hamilton’s yellow daily. As expected, since The Daily Bull is published so frequently, the percentage of students who did not hold an opinion about it was only 2%. In addition, this publication is most enjoyed by freshman with 80% satisfaction compared to 36%, 39%, and 33% satisfaction among sophomores, juniors, and seniors respectively.

3. The Spectator:

Almost 52% of respondents said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with The Spectator and 80% of them thought it is a useful source of quality information for the Hamilton Community. The distribution of satisfaction by class years shows 61% of freshmen are satisfied with The Spec compared to 54% of sophomores 40% of juniors and 51% of seniors. With this newspaper, gender appears to be a determining factor in satisfaction, with females expressing satisfaction at a 15% higher rate than male students.

4. The Duel Observer:

More than 22% of respondents did not have an opinion about The Duel Observer. The Observer has the satisfaction of 60% of the student respondents which means it has one of the lowest dissatisfaction rates among media outlets at Hamilton, second only to WHCL. The lowest satisfaction with The Duel came from seniors (49%) which was a drop from the high satisfaction among juniors, sophomores, and freshmen. The Duel Observer phenomenon is also characterized by its ability to cross party and gender lines securing itself an equally-good reputation among a simple majority of students.

5. WHCL:

Hamilton’s radio station is the least controversial media outlet with more than 50% of respondents expressing no opinion about its performance. Still, it has the support of 36% of students while only 13% of the student body expressed dissatisfaction with WHCL. The reason for the indifference of so many students probably stems from the fact that it is the least common media outlet for students. Our survey shows that 70% of Hamilton students never listen to the radio. However, if we isolate students who do not listen to the radio, then satisfaction with WHCL rises considerably to 58%.

6. The Continental:

Hamilton student respondents expressed deep dissatisfaction with this new magazine with 36% reporting they are very dissatisfied with it and another 20% saying they are dissatisfied with The Continental. Altogether, only 33% said they were satisfied with the magazine and 57% said they thought the magazine is not useful in providing quality information to the Hamilton Community. Only 23% of males expressed satisfaction with The Continental compared to 41% of females.

7. The Wag:

Almost half of the respondents were satisfied with The Wag but more than 30% did not express their opinions regarding its performance. Similar to The Duel Observer, satisfaction with The Wag does not vary by gender and political affiliation, but unlike The Duel Observer, there is no evidence of a difference in satisfaction with The Wag by class year.

Additional results:

Students who were dissatisfied with:	Were also most dissatisfied with:
The Continental	The Daily Bull
The Daily Bull	The Continental
The Spectator	The Continental
The Right	The Continental & The Spectator
The Wag	The Right & The Daily Bull
The Duel Observer	The Spectator
WHCL	The Continental & The Right

Quotes from the Survey:

“The students seem to be in a bubble when it comes to knowing what is going on in the world. We have to actively seek out any news. There are no national newspapers available in the dining halls, and the student media does not focus on the outside world.”

“Please stop publishing the daily bull.”

“Duel Observer: This publication is a complete waste of paper.. It’s not funny, its offensive to the college and administrators, and is embarrassing for the Hamilton community.”

“I hate Syracuse news. Some lady gets mugged and they talk about it as if it was the end of the world.”

“PLEASE bring the New York Times back to Commons and McEwen.”

“DAILY BULL AND THESSALONIUS TOKEFACE are the soul’s sustenance.”