Climate Considerations: 20-Minutes-to…Trained

A Web-Based Sexual Misconduct Training Series.

Preview Clip:

Transcript:

Makenzie Schiemann, M.S., Ph.D. (Partner, TNG; President, NABITA): The first thing I want to talk about with climate considerations is what we mean by climate. Because really, what we’re talking about here is capital C climate, the big climate at your school at your institution, which is an evaluation of a combination of the norms, the perceptions, the beliefs, and the experiences of the individuals connected to your community.

Conceptually speaking, climate can be influenced by many different factors, including the evolution of practices, policies, or beliefs at your school, the historical positions that they may have taken, or actions that they have taken, particularly when we’re thinking about underrepresented groups and historically marginalized groups and how historical experiences impact current evaluation of the climate at the school.

Climate is not one thing. Climate is not this definable, scientific-specific thing; it is an experience, a belief, and a perception. We all can understand that. Think about this: you go out to dinner with your friends, and you’re like, “Oh, the climate in the room was really tense tonight,” we perceive it, we feel it, which makes it hard for schools and institutions to wrap their head around it and define it in a way that they can do something about.

Michelle Issadore, M.Ed. (Chief Operating Officer, TNG) It feels overwhelming in some ways, and how to measure how to capture. The other piece about climate is that it’s constantly evolving and shifting. The very nature of institutions of education is that there’s turnover in our student body, faculty and staff, and the world around us. Climate surveys are one way to understand a moment in time, capture that, and respond to it in a more evidence-informed way. So that we’re not making decisions based on what we think might be occurring, like a gut feeling or anecdotes, but we can capture that information from our community members and have a better sense of what we need in terms of programming in terms of policy development revision, how

Description:

This 20-Minutes-to…Trained video module examines the nuances of climate and the challenges institutions face trying to assess and improve climate. NABITA & ATIXA experts Makenzie and Michelle discuss climate surveys, barrier analyses, and reporting policies as tools to identify climate problems and design climate solutions. This topic is a terrific opportunity for folks looking to launch or improve their own climate assessment solutions.