Screenshot of Penn PULSE Survey
As students have loudly criticized Penn's growing crackdown on unregistered social events, Penn administrators are asking for help. In an email sent to students last week, Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett asked for confidential feedback on their experience with Penn organizations and co-curricular activities.
The Perception of University Life and Student Experience Survey (PULSE) presented questions about academic, pre-professional and extracurricular opportunities offered at Penn. Faculty members, including college house deans and cultural house directors, helped circulate the email.
According to the emails, the feedback would provide “valuable information” that could help the University evaluate efforts for student safety and improve academic and co-curricular undergraduate programs.
The survey comes in the wake of backlash received by the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life and the Division of Public Safety after the implementation of new policies — over 2,500 students signed a petition bashing the new policies, which were based on recommendations made by a task force on student safety and wellness that was commissioned last year.
The 60 core questions in the PULSE survey cover a variety of aspects about campus life, from community service to diversity groups. In general, they ask if students feel personally fulfilled by becoming actively engaged in Penn’s organizations.
“The more students who participate and share their views, the more complete a picture Penn gets about the state of campus life,” wrote the Pan-Asian American Community House in their weekly emailed newsletter.
In spring 2011, Penn conducted the Enrolled Student Survey, which examined how students felt about their academic environment, faculty and advisors and health and wellbeing. Similar surveys geared towards first-year undergraduates include the Survey of New Students (SNS) and the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey.
The PULSE survey closes Nov. 6 and takes about half an hour to complete.
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