Spring Survey Fails to Elicit Student Response

By Zalman Abramchik

The student survey distributed with spring registration materials has failed to elicit the response expected and hoped for by the Office of Student Services.  The survey was intended to gauge student needs and contribute to the renewal of Yeshiva’s Middle States accreditation; student failure to return the surveys, however, doomed the endeavor from the outset.

In fact, many students do not even remember having received the survey, which was supposed to arrive along with registration materials prior to the spring ’02 semester.  Students responded to questions on this issue with blank stares and, occasionally, mocking laughter.  Many asked, “What survey?”  The statistics reflect this attitude: out of approximately 1200 students on the Wilf Campus, only 57 students filled out the survey.

One student, who was not surprised at the lack of participation in the survey, declared, “I’m not shocked.  YU students overall seem to have a tendency towards indifference and often shy away from participation.”  Other students expressed resentment they harbored towards the Office of Student Services as a reason for not participating in the survey. 

University Dean of Students David Himber noted, though, that the uptown student body “missed an opportunity to tell YU what they need.”  He also noted that this debacle would likely represent the University’s final attempt at conducting a survey of this nature.

The lack of participation was not nearly as extreme on the Midtown Campus.  Out of approximately 950 women, 374 took the time to respond.  Himber could not explain the discrepancy between the responses on the two campuses.

One central problem did emerge from the surveys that were returned: only 45% of students feel that the Yeshiva administration is helpful.  Himber said he would discuss the problem with administrators and raise the issue at meetings.  However, since so few students responded to the survey, it is unclear what, if any, impact this student sentiment will achieve.