The Campus Climate Survey is out, and we’re disappointed. We have two big issues with the published results. The first is that some of the responses are troubling. The second is that there were not nearly enough responses.

We find it frightening that most reported student harassment takes place in the classroom. Of the incidents of harassment documented in the results, 19 percent occurred in the classroom. At a university, where students should feel comfortable in their classrooms, a hostile environment is unacceptable. Moreover, that 54 percent of this harassment was inflicted by students is troubling; that 17 percent is due to instructors or professors is even more so. Faculty are meant to be resources on campus and assets to Binghamton University. They should not be responsible for such a large percentage of reported harassment.

We found it troubling that approval of the Multicultural Resource Center was so low. Though only nine students responded to a question asking about their satisfaction with the MRC, only one was satisfied with it.

While the survey results point to many areas that are in desperate need of improvement, we frankly have no idea what to do with these results. There were not nearly enough responses to effectively measure our campus climate. How can any reasonable person regard percentages seriously with such little data? We don’t know if reports of harassment are coming from a handful of wronged faculty or if it is a widespread problem. We don’t know if the dorms are categorically unsafe, or if one bad building fostered every response. There is no way to craft future policy based on these limited results.

The University must take the necessary steps to ensure a greater number of respondents to a future campus climate survey. With 2,042 respondents and demographic information unrepresentative of the University, it’s difficult to tell which issues necessarily need addressing. Thus far, we are unaware of any plans to conduct another climate survey. In order to measure progress, the University must be constantly evaluating itself. One survey, in a constantly changing campus, is meaningless. Things change — Yik Yak had no presence on campus before the last survey. Without tracking progress with future surveys, we cannot measure accountability for reform.

Most importantly, the next Campus Climate Survey should be mandatory for students. Clearly, the 117-question survey proved to be a daunting task for those who were given the option to delete it from their email inbox. It was simply too inconvenient.

We suggest that the University craft a new survey that is mandatory for all outgoing seniors to take in order to graduate — much like incoming freshmen must take Alcohol-Wise. Their input — which will come after their entire tenure at BU — would be invaluable for the University to make positive change. Some might view mandatory completion as yet another unnecessary bureaucratic hurdle for seniors to overcome, but in the context of other University requirements, this seems more beneficial.

When it comes to faculty and staff filling out the surveys, it should also be mandatory. It probably wouldn’t be useful for everyone to fill out the survey every year, though: Perhaps a different but representative sample should be picked every year to fill it. The results as they stand now are useless.

The University created this survey with the best intentions in mind. However, it fell short. With a bit more thought and planning, we’ll all be able to improve Binghamton’s climate.