President Obama’s White House is exploring options to require U.S colleges and universities to conduct campus climate surveys in 2016. The University of California has just concluded such a survey, demonstrating the limited value of such costly exercises. In 2012, then-University of California President Mark Yudof commissioned a survey of 386,000 UC students, staff and faculty about their experiences of campus and workplace climate.  UC hired an outside contractor at a reported cost of $602,000 (or the equivalent of one-year’s, $12,192, in-State tuition for 49 California undergraduates).  When the time-costs of UC participants* involved in survey design, administration, and creation of 14 reports is included, the rumored, actual cost is $1million.   The results are in.  Only 104,000, or 27%, chose to respond, leading some to conclude a lack of interest in the topic or disdain for the questions.  Of those responding, 79% were...(Read Full Article)