Spring Survey of
SCSU students
2006
Statement
of
Methodology
• The SCSU Survey is an ongoing
survey research extension of the
Social Science Research Institute
in the College of Social Sciences at
St. Cloud State University.
• The Survey’s faculty directors are
Dr. Steve Frank (SCSU Professor of
Political Science), Dr. Steven
Wagner (SCSU Professor of
Political Science) and Dr. Michelle
Kukoleca Hammes (SCSU
Associate Professor of Political
Science).
STUDENT SUPERVISING DIRECTOR
• Ms. Sara Lohrman, 3rd Year Student,
Political Science Major, Public
Administration minor, Willmar,
Minnesota.
STUDENT TECHNICAL CONSULTANT
• Mr. Jason Amunrud, 4th Year Student,
Computer Science Major, Shoreview,
Minnesota.
SURVEY LAB STUDENT DIRECTORS
• Ms. Ngoc Phan, 4th Year Student, Political Science Major,
Sociology Minor, St. Cloud, Minnesota
• Ms. Nicole Severson, 4th Year Student, Public Administration
Major, Photo Journalism Minor, Sauk Rapids, Minnesota
• Mr. Will Floersheim, 2nd Year Student, Political Science and
Social Studies Education Major, Little Falls, Minnesota
• Ms. Elizabeth Walters 4th Year student, Statistics Major,
Spanish Minor Burnsville, Minnesota
• Mr. Mathew Bromelkap, 3rd Year student, Political Science
Major, Maple Grove, Minnesota
• Ms. Heather Schwebach, 3rd Year Student, Psychology Major,
Management Minor, Lennox, South Dakota
• Mr. Tim Ehlinger, 2nd Year Student, Social Studies Education
with Emphasis in Sociology, Avon, Minessota
• Ms. Jackie Swanson, 3rd Year Student, Political Science Major,
International Relations minor, Brainerd, MN.
• Ms. Brittany Speich, 3rd Year Student, Political Science and
Public Relations, Bayport, MN.
SCSU Survey Lab
• The SCSU Survey performs its research in the form
of telephone interviews.
• The SCSU Survey operates the CATI Lab in Stewart
Hall 324. The CATI Lab, which stands for Computer
Assisted Telephone Interviewing Lab, is equipped
with 13 interviewer stations.
• The SCSU Survey is licensed to use Sawtooth
Software’s Ci3 Questionnaire Authoring Version 4.1,
a state-of-the-art windows-based computer-assisted
interviewing package. This program allows us to
develop virtually any type of questionnaire while at
the same time programming edit and consistency
checks and other quality control measures to insure
the most valid data.
• Calls were made at various times
during the week (Monday through
Thursday, 4:30 to 9:30) and on Sunday
afternoon and evening to maximize
contacts and ensure equal
opportunities to respond among
various demographic groups. The
survey was administered from Sunday,
April 2 through Tuesday, April 10.
• Several steps were taken to ensure that
the telephone sample of SCSU students
was representative of the larger student
population. The sample was drawn
proportional to the currently enrolled
student population by the Minnesota
State College and University (MnSCU)
Regional Center. The sample was
comprised of 1,600 currently enrolled
students who had a telephone
anywhere in the state of Minnesota.
• The calling system maintains full and
detailed records, including the number
of attempts made to each number and
the disposition of each attempt. In
order to reach hard-to-get respondents
each number was called up to ten times
over different days and times and
appointments made as necessary to
interview the designated respondent at
her/his convenience. Initial refusals
were contacted and many were
converted to completions.
• The sample consists of 502 respondents. In
samples of 502 interviews, the sample error
due to sampling and other random effects is
approximately plus/minus four percent at the
95 percent confidence level. This means that
if one were to have drawn 20 samples of the
student population and administered the
same instrument it would be expected that
the overall findings would be greater/lesser
than four percent only one time in twenty.
• When analysis is made of sub-samples such
as respondents who live in university
residence halls, or when the sample is
broken down by variables such as gender,
the sample error may be larger.
• The demographics such as gender,
dorm resident, ethnic status, year
of birth, etc. of the sample match
known characteristics of the
student population very well.
Because of this no weighting of the
sample was deemed necessary.
• The cooperation rate of the survey was 81
percent. Cooperation rate means that once
we reached an eligible respondent, more
than eight of ten respondents agreed to
participate in the survey.
• The cooperation rate is determined by
adding the number of completed interviews
(502) to the total number of refusals (118) and
dividing the number of completed interview
(502) by the sum of the completions and
refusals (620).
Greatest Challenge Facing
SCSU, Pride & Direction
Heather Schwebach
What do you believe is the
greatest challenge facing
the St. Cloud State
University Community?
Biggest challenge for Spring
2006 Survey












Don’t know 27%
Other 13%
Parking 13%
Tuition 11%
Substance abuse 8%
Diversity 6%
Overall reputation 3%
Image 2%
Advising 2%
St. Cloud community 2%
State financial support 1%
SCSU building surplus 1%











Apathy 1%
SCSU building surplus 1%
Buildings 1%
Civility 1%
Course major offerings 1%
Enrollment growth 1%
Facility quality 1%
Jobs for graduates 1%
Keeping up technology 1%
Sports reputation 1%
Student quality 1%
Consistent Challenges Facing
SCSU
100
90
80
70
60
Parking
Diversity
Tuition
50
40
30
20
31%
29%
17% 20%
6%
10
28%
17%
15%
12%
20%
10%
9%
12%
3%
13% 11%
6%
0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Source: SCSU Spring Student Survey
2006
Ranking of Top 5 Challenges
Facing SCSU
100
90
80
Diversity
70
Parking
60
Tuition
50
Don't Know
40
Overall Reputation
20
10
31%
29%
30
Image
27%
20%
17%
State Fin support
16%
10%
6%
5%
0
2001
4% 2%
0%
3%
13%
11%
7%
4%
3% 3%
1%
2002
8%
3%
2006
Source: SCSU Spring Student Survey, April 2001, 2002, 2006
2% 1%
Substance Abuse
Do you always, usually,
sometimes, not very often or
never feel proud to be a
student at St. Cloud State
University?
SCSU Pride
100
90
80
70
Always
Usually
Sometimes
Not very often
Never
Don't know
60
50
40
30
36%
35%
23%
20
10
2%
2%
0
Source: SCSU Spring Student Survey 2006
2%
SCSU Pride Compared to
Past Years
100
90
80
70
Always
60
Usually
50
40
30
Sometimes
39%
39%
32%
35%
28% 30%
29%
24%
24%
35%
32%
25%
Not very often
36%35%
Never
23%
20
10
0
3%
1%1%
2001
5%
1%2%
2002
4%
1%2%
2003
Source: SCSU Spring Student Survey
5%
2%1%
2005
2% 2%
2006
Don't Know
Highlights

More persons of color report always feeling
proud to be SCSU students than
Caucasians






Asians 50%
Hispanic 50%
African Americans 33%
Whites 35%
Males and females views do not differ, they
are about the same
48% of international students say they
always feel proud to be students at SCSU
Do you think that SCSU is
on the right track or do
you think SCSU is going
in the wrong direction?
SCSU On the Right Track or
Going the Wrong Direction
90
84%
83%
80
78%
79%
75%
70
60
50
Right track
Wrong Direction
40
30
20
12%
13%
10
11%
7%
6%
0
2002
2003
2004
2005
Source: SCSU Spring Student Survey
2006
Highlights




No difference on and off campus
students
No difference due to class standing
No difference between international &
US students
No difference between
males and females
Feeling Thermometer
Please think of a thermometer that has a range of 0
to 100 degrees. I'd like you to rate your feelings
toward some campus figures and other people who
are in the news. Ratings on the thermometer between
50 and 100 degrees mean that you feel favorable and
warm toward the person. Ratings between 0 and 50
mean that you do not feel too favorable toward the
person. If we come to a person whose name you
don't recognize, you don't need to rate that person.
Just tell me and we will move on to the next one. If
you do recognize the name, but do not feel
particularly warm or cold toward the person, you
would rate the person at the 50-degree mark.
Feeling Thermometer Means 2005 & 2006
100
90
80
70
58
56
52
60
50
61
41
2005
2006
36
40
30
20
10
0
Bush
Saigo
Student Government
Source: SCSU Survey April 2006 n=502 April 2005 n=503
*means based only on those who can rate 2006 n for Bush (490) Saigo (356) Kutcher (134)
Feeling Thermometer
% Stating Don’t Know/Can’t Judge Refused
2005 & 2006
100
90
80
75
73
70
60
43
50
2005
2006
40
30
16
20
10
2
2
0
Bush
Source: SCSU Survey April 2006 n=502
Saigo
Student Government
April 2005 n=503
Some Feeling Thermometer Findings
• In 2001 we asked students to pick the student
government president from a list of four names
• 17% were able to identify the president.
• For President Bush there was little difference by
ethnic status
• Republican students =65 Democrats=19
• For Student Government President this year, there
was little difference in rating by class standing,
international student or not, but some gender
difference
• Females=57 Males=48
Student Government
and
In-House Elections
By: Ngoc Phan
Now I have some questions about
SCSU's student government and
in-house
elections.
In-house elections are the
special election of officers by
members of the student
government when there is an
unscheduled vacancy.
Are you aware that our current SCSU student government
vice president
was elected through an in-house election and not through
an election
open to all students?
100
82%
 Respondents who
are unaware
outnumber those
aware by a
magnitude of five
80
60
40
20 15%
3%
0
Yes
No
DK
Source: SCSU 2006 Student Survey
In general, do you strongly agree, agree, disagree,
or strongly
disagree with the use of in-house elections?
100
 15 percentage
points
difference
between agree
and disagree
80
60
47%
40
32%
21%
20
0
Agree
Disagree
DK
Source: SCSU 2006 Student Survey
21% don’t know’s
In your opinion, which of the following is the best choice in regards to
in-house elections. Should SCSU Student Government abolish all inhouse elections, provide more publicity to students, or do nothing to
change it?
 Out of the
three choices,
more than half
100
80
of respondents
preferred the
choice of providing
more
publicity
63%
60
40
16%
20
9%
0
abolish
publicity
nothing
12%
DK
Source: SCSU 2006 Student Survey
Findings:
The demographics gender, class,
and political party did not have
significant effects on any of the
three questions.
Spring 2006 Student
Survey: Questions on
Smoking
Matt Bromelkamp
Do you smoke?
100
90
80
70
60
Percent 50
40
30
20
10
0
82
18
82
18
2006
2003
Students
YES
NO
Should smoking be banned in the
Apocalypse
room?
100
Percent
80
78
60
Agree
Disagree
40
22
20
0
Students
Should SCSU be a smoke free
campus?
100
90
80
70
60
59
50
Percent 50
41
50
Agree
Disagree
40
30
20
10
0
2006
2003
Students
Should St. Cloud ban smoking?
100
90
80
70
60
Percent 50
40
30
20
10
0
Ban in Bars &
Restaurants
Ban in ONLY bars
42
39
15
4
Students
Ban in ONLY
restaurants
No ban at all
Compare smoking status to how
you feel about the smoking ban in
the Apocalypse room
Smoke
Don’t
smoke
Total
Agree
with ban
67%
80%
78%
Disagree
with ban
33%
20%
22%
Compare smoking status to how
you feel about a smoke free
campus
Smoke
Agree
22%
with
smoke
free SCSU
Disagree 78%
with
smoke
free SCSU
Don’t
Smoke
Total
67%
58%
33%
42%
Compare smoking status to how
you feel about banning smoking in
St. Cloud
Smoke
Ban in bars
and
restaurants
20%
Don’t
Smoke
47%
Total
Ban in
bars only
8%
3%
4%
Ban in
restaurants
only
38%
39%
39%
No ban
35%
11%
16%
42%
Does living in a residence hall
affect if you smoke or not?
Live in a
dorm
Do not
live in a
dorm
Total
Smoke
21%
8%
18%
Don’t
smoke
79%
93%
82%
Other findings

Other demographics such as gender
or class standing didn’t give us a
good idea of how you would feel
about smoking issues or as to
whether you smoke
Are intercollegiate athletic events an integral part of
college life at St. Cloud State?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
47
36
20
3
10
9
0
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
The importance of intercollegiate
athletics to college students
• 8 in 10 students (83%) at St. Cloud State find
intercollegiate athletics to be an integral part of
SCSU college life.
• In a national study of college students done for
the NCAA in 20041, 87% of students surveyed
agreed that attending college or university
sporting events was an integral part of college
life.
1. 2004 Safe Celebration Study, Data Development Corporation, June 2004,
n=986 The survey was conducted for the NCAA, the National Association of
State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), the TEAM
Coalition, and Anheuser-Busch.
Would students drink responsibly if allowed to
tailgate at SCSU Intercollegiate athletic events?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
22
29
28
16
10
0
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Would allowing tailgating at SCSU increase the probability
of inappropriate student actions occurring at events?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
35
24
20
10
15
0
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Disagree
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Strongly
Disagree
Would you be most likely to tailgate with friends, family, or
somebody other than family or friends?
100
90
80
70
73
60
50
40
30
20
10
12
10
0
Family
Friends
Other
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, overall n=502, n seen here =438
Tailgating with Friends
• After excluding 64 students who said they would
not tailgate, remaining data indicated that about
three quarters of students (73%) would tailgate
with their friends at SCSU.
• In a national study of college students done for
the NCAA in 20041, 80% of the students
surveyed said they would tailgate with their
friends.
1. 2004 Safe Celebration Study, Data Development Corporation, June 2004,
n=986 The survey was conducted for the NCAA, the National Association of
State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), the TEAM
Coalition, and Anheuser-Busch.
Would you personally like the opportunity to tailgate at
SCSU intercollegiate athletic events?
100
90
80
70
60
50
55
40
38
30
20
10
0
Yes
No
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Significant Findings
• During a student’s undergraduate career, the further
their class standing (senior vs. sophomore), the less
likely they are to find intercollegiate athletic events to
be an integral part of college life.
• Females were more likely than males to believe that
allowing tailgating would increase the probability of
inappropriate student actions occurring during or after
events.
• Males, more than females, wanted to have the
opportunity to tailgate.
• The higher grade point average a student has, the
less likely he/she is to want to have the opportunity to
tailgate.
SCSU SURVEY
Student Survey
Spring 2006
Elizabeth Walters
Husky Sports Band
Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly
disagree that the Husky Sports Band will create a
greater school spirit at athletic events?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
54
26
10
9
1
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly
Agree
Don't
Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly
disagree that the Husky Sports Band will generate
greater fan involvement at athletic events?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
56
23
11
1
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
9
Agree
Strongly
Agree
Don't
Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
For you personally, would you attend a higher
number, about the same, or a lower number of
athletic events because of the Husky Sports Band?
100
90
80
70
66
60
50
40
30
20
22
10
4
8
0
A Higher
Number
About the
Same
A Lower
Number
Don't Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Do you personally feel that the Husky Sports Band
will add excitement to athletic events?
100
90
80
81
70
60
50
40
30
20
12
10
7
0
Yes
No
Don't Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Summary
• There were no statistically significant
relationships between the demographics
of age, gender, race, class standing, and
living on or off campus.
UND Fighting Sioux Mascot
Sara Lohrman and Brittany Speich
Are you aware that there has been a resolution written
to ban the UND Fighting Sioux mascot on the SCSU
campus?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
50%
49%
Yes
No
Don't Know
1%
SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006 overall n=502
Significant findings

Students of ethnic background, international
students, and nontraditional students were
less likely to be aware of the resolution that
was written to ban the UND mascot.

Gender, living arrangement, and class
standing were not statistically significant
findings.
SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006 overall n=502
How important is this issue to you, would you say that
it is very important, somewhat important, not
important, or not at all important?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
32%
28%
Very Important
Somewhat Important
Not Important
Not at all Important
Don't Know
23%
14%
3%
SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006 overall n=502
Significant findings


The only finding that was statistically
significant when running cross tabs was that
females found that the issue of the UND
mascot was more important to them then
males.
All other categories (living arrangement,
ethnic status, class standing,
domestic/international student, and
traditional/non-traditional student) were not
statistically significant.
SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006 overall n=502
What do you feel should happen, if anything, to the
UND Fighting Sioux mascot?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Keep it the Same
Change Design
46%
Change Mascot
Altogether
Don't Know
29%
13%
11%
1%
Other
(Volunteered)
SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006 overall n=502
Significant findings


Males were more likely than female to want
to keep the mascot the same, whereas
females were more likely than males to want
to change the mascot altogether.
The rest of the demographics run were not
statistically significant.
SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006 overall n=502
Do you believe that SCSU should have a say in what
the UND Fighting Sioux mascot should be?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
82%
Yes
No
Don't Know
13%
5%
SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006 overall n=502
Significant Findings


Slightly more students of ethnic background
and international students don’t know
whether SCSU should have a say in what the
UND mascot should be than Caucasian
students.
The rest of the demographics run were not
statistically significant.
2006 Spring Student
Survey
Racial Perceptions At St. Cloud State
University
Tim Ehlinger
Are Students Accepted
Equally?
100
2006 Student Survey
90
1998 Student Survey
80
70
62
60
50
50
40
30
35
26
20
7
10
11
7
0
0
Always Accepted Equally
Sometimes Accepted
Equally
Rarely Accepted Equally
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students
April, 2006 overall n=502
Don’t Know
Are Students Accepted
Equally?


Males(42%) were more likely than
females(28%) to state that students of color
are always accepted equally to whites.
African Americans were more likely than
Caucasians to state that students of color
were rarely accepted equally; though our
sample of African Americans had a large
sample error.
Representing Race In
Class Discussion
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2006 Student Survey
1998 Student Survey
67
49
41
17
16
4
3
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled
Students April, 2006 overall n=502
0
Don't Know
Representing Race In
Class Discussion

6 in 10 freshmen agreed they felt a
need to represent their race in class
discussion whereas only 4 in 10
seniors agreed with this statement.
Time SCSU Spends on
Race
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2006 Student
Survey
54
22
19
5
Too Much
Time
The Right
Amount
Too Little
Time
Don't Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled
Students April, 2006 overall n=502
Time SCSU Spends on
Race


Twice as many males felt SCSU spends too
much time on race relations as females.
African Americans students(72%) were
much more likely to state that we do not
spend enough time on race as Caucasians
students(15%); though again our sample of
African Americans had a large sample error.
Student Complaint
Process
Jackie Swanson
And
Nicole Severson
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Are you aware of the student
complaint process?
100
90
80
70
60
50
Yes
No
40
30
20
10
0
Don’t Know
Yes
No
Don’t
Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Generally speaking, do you know
how the student complaint process
works?
100
90
80
70
60
Yes
No
Don't Know
50
40
30
20
10
0
Yes
No
Don't Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
How important is it to you to have a student
complaint process, is it very important,
somewhat important, somewhat unimportant,
or not at all important?
100
80
60
Important
Unimportant
Don't Know
40
20
0
Important
Unimportant
Don't Know
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
OUR FINDINGS
• Our most statistically significant
finding is that class standing had the
most impact.
– The longer a person is a student at St. Cloud
State, the more aware they are of the complaint
process.
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Continued…
• Another significant finding is that students
who live off campus believe that the
complaint process is much more important
than those that live on campus.
• GPA, gender and race held no real
significance.
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Gay
Marriage
Amendment
Jackie Swanson
And
Nicole Severson
Do you support or oppose a proposed amendment
to the MN state constitution that would prohibit
same sex marriage in MN?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Support
Oppose
DK/Neutral
Support
Oppose
DK/Neutral
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Do you support or oppose an amendment to the
MN state constitution that would prohibit same
sex marriage in MN and make civil unions or
domestic partnerships for unmarried couples
against the law?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Support
Oppose
DK/Neutral
Support
Oppose
DK/Neutral
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Our Findings
• We found that party affiliation and
approach to politics did have a very
significant effect.
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Gay Marriage only…
Almost half of Republicans were in favor of an amendment,
whereas 7 out of 10 Democrats opposed.
100
90
80
70
60
Republican
Democrat
50
40
30
20
10
0
Support
Oppose
Neutral
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
Marriage and Civil Unions
Conservatives on campus were split almost 50/50 in regards to a MN
constitutional amendment with only 15% maintaining neutral.
1/4th of liberals support an amendment. Whereas those who identified
themselves as Liberal 2/3rds were opposed to an amendment.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Liberal
Moderate
Conservative
Support
Oppose
Neutral
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502
When we compared gender to
peoples stance on a constitutional
amendment we found that Men
were more apt to support an
amendment whereas woman were
more likely to be neutral or
opposed.
Source: SCSU Spring Survey of Currently Enrolled Students April, 2006, n=502