A survey sent to students, faculty and administrators in the first week of November to gauge campus attitudes toward homosexuals may become a standard work in the field of gay and lesbian studies because of its tremendous response rate.
"This is a standard now which all other surveys on this field will look at," said Auguste Goldman '94, the chair of the committee that sent the surveys.
More than 70 percent of the 1,600 surveys that were sent out have been returned, according to Goldman. More surveys are still trickling in.
This rate is by far the highest of the six colleges that have conducted similar surveys. The other surveys have had a 30 percent average response rate, Goldman said.
The data from the surveys is currently being tabulated. It will be compiled during Winter term.
A committee chaired by Goldman will meet during the winter to review the results. It plans to produce a comprehensive report on the data with conclusions and recommendations.
The report should be available early Spring term.
The data will be presented to many of the senior officers at the College. "They can draw some of their own conclusions," Goldman said.
The committee also hopes to have the survey results published in major journals and newspapers, including USA Today and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
"Hopefully this is going to gain national attention," Goldman said.
Goldman said the survey is not intended to support gay and lesbian studies classes at Dartmouth. "We're not trying to create a course at all," he said. He said the College already offers such courses.
College Course 3, Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies, is listed in the current Organizations, Regulations and Courses book, but is not offered at least until after the Spring term of 1995.
Goldman said the committee's report could recommend "a broader education of the whole community."
Goldman said he could not draw conclusions on the data yet.
Trevor Burgess, the co-chair of the Dartmouth Area Gay Lesbian Organization and a member of the survey committee, said, "I'm very pleased with the response rate ... it'll give us some very interesting stuff." Burgess will serve on the committee that evaluates the data.
Many surveys were returned with extensive comments, which will be included in the report.
The survey pool was distributed nearly equally between the four undergraduate classes, the faculty and the administration, Goldman said.
The Allen and Joan Bildner Endowment awarded Goldman $9,700 over four years to study gay life at the College. The survey represented the first segment of a two-part project.
The second half will track attitudes of members in the Class of 1997 toward gays and lesbians when they matriculate and when they graduate.
A sample of the Class of 1997 will be surveyed again in the spring of 1997, according to Goldman.
