Students share their views on campus housing, food, community, and safety
By Katie Fink
At Ohio Wesleyan University, it is important to remember that every student’s voice matters when considering changes that could be implemented in the future. Recently, a survey was given to 160 students on campus that evaluated their thoughts and experiences on OWU’s campus.
A variety of identities were represented within the sample size. Forty-seven percent of the students identified as female, 47.5% as male, and 5% as non-binary. Additionally, 63 students were freshmen, 42 were sophomores, 34 were juniors, and 21 were seniors. Sixty-nine percent of the participants lived in dorms, while 12% lived at home, 6% in an apartment, 9% in a fraternity or sorority, and 4% in a slu.
The survey included five primary categories; opinions on the university’s food, satisfaction with living arrangements, feelings of safety on campus, feelings of belonging on campus, and thoughts on the university’s helpfulness in student success.
More than half of the respondents noted that they were unsatisfied with the nutritional value of food on campus. However, not all students agree with this statement.
“Sometimes [Smith Dining food] might not look the best, but usually at least one of the options is enjoyable each meal” notes senior Jacob Kenerson.
As for living arrangements, most students expressed neutral opinions, with the average being 6.25/10 for satisfaction.
There also were not many concerns for safety on campus, as 68% of students expressed feeling safe and only 28% felt unsure at times. However, some comments were made on improvements that could help people feel more secure and comfortable.
One respondent, junior Brook Black, explains that when they were in choir, they often found it “scary” to walk to and from Sanborn Hall because of the lack of street lights in that area. Fifty-three percent of the respondents agreed that more lighting on and around campus would be beneficial.
Additionally, 69% of respondents expressed that they felt a sense of belonging on campus, and 96% were involved in at least one extracurricular activity. Moreover, 41% of students expressed a tendency to compare themselves to their peers on campus.
Finally, the average for feeling successful because of help from OWU was 7.26/10, concluding that the majority of respondents felt satisfied with OWU’s support.
Overall, the findings of this survey highlight the importance of collaboration between students, faculty, and administrators to create a campus environment that fosters student success and well-being. Moving forward, further initiatives aimed at addressing the identified concerns can contribute to enhancing the overall student experience at OWU.
Students share concerns about campus safety and dining options
By Payton Boerner
The journalism class at Ohio Wesleyan University put out a survey to the student body in an attempt to understand students' satisfaction on parts of campus life. The survey was a broad questionnaire to gain student insight relating to safety, dining options, involvement and campus experience.
Out of all 160 students that participated in the survey, most of them felt safe on the campus, regardless of gender. There was a smaller portion of students who felt that they did not always feel safe. The students expressed that more lighting, cameras and key card access would help their satisfaction of feeling safe, especially at night.
Bella Guzzetta mentioned her experience. “I got something stolen, and they didn’t have working cameras to check and ever since then I have realized that we don't have a ton of safety protocols on this campus which worries me.”
Here, Guzzetta expresses that with more cameras, her situation may have been able to be resolved, and that if they couldn’t use cameras to determine suspects for her belongings, then they are probably lacking cameras in other areas on campus as well.
Majority of students felt that the nutritional value of the food served at Ohio Wesleyan was not satisfactory, or they had a mixed opinion. These results suggest that the school should explore increasing the nutritional value of their food.
This survey had students rank their level of satisfaction with their living arrangements. On average, the satisfaction was a 6.25 out of 10. This shows a lot of mixed feelings and some positives out of the community.
Students generally felt a sense of belonging on campus. Differences included their year and gender. Seniors mostly felt a higher level of belonging. This makes sense as they have been here the longest and have had time to more deeply build relationships on campus.
Jamison Ellis mentioned that playing a sport made him feel a higher sense of belonging. “Being a part of the golf team made me feel a greater sense of belonging as a freshman. I got to know upperclassmen, they invited me to different things that they were doing which helped me integrate into the campus community and meet other people.”
Most also agreed that Ohio Wesleyan is able to provide us with substantial opportunities and lifetime successes.
Paige Orlando, member of Tri Delta shared her opportunities through the school and her sorority.
“I’ve really liked my time on the philanthropy team as I have gained a lot of experience in the real world, and have had the opportunity to raise money for a greater cause. I was so into my position and the leadership skills that it was helping me gain, that I was able to get the position of philanthropy director for the 24-25 school year.”
Overall, students gave good suggestions for improving their experience such as improvements in dining services, safety, and living arrangements. As well as strengths, feeling a sense of belonging. Ohio Wesleyan University will be able to continue the wonderful student experience along with safety needs through this survey.
Students share opinions on belonging, career readiness, and dining choices
By Mia Jung
Students in the introduction to journalism class took on the task of surveying students at Ohio Wesleyan to find out how they feel about a variety of issues. Findings reported that students feel a high level of belonging at Ohio Wesleyan despite low results in other areas.
Ohio Wesleyan is considered to be a small school, with only around 1,500 students in attendance and because of this the Admissions office receives a large number of students concerned with finding a place and feeling like they belong here. A sophomore tour guide, Reagan Davis, discussed her most asked questions on tour with incoming freshmen and their families.
“Students are worried about finding friends, a group of people they get along with, but most worried about feeling like they can belong at a small school like Ohio Wesleyan.”
One-hundred-and-sixty students participated in this survey, ranging in grade level, gender and living location.
The question of belonging was presented as a statement “I feel like I belong at Ohio Wesleyan” and responses were on a sliding scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Less than 10% of respondents strongly disagree or disagree. 26% of respondents strongly agree that they belong at Ohio Wesleyan and 43% agree. The remainder of respondents reported a mixed opinion or a neutral position.
Ohio Wesleyan prides itself on the OWU Connection program which encourages students to think big, go global, do good, and get real. These four programs are based around getting students involved in the community and preparing them for their life and career after college.
While it's nearly impossible to assess the effectiveness of this program, students were asked to rate how well they feel Ohio Wesleyan prepares them to succeed in life on a scale from 1-10, 10 being most prepared, and the respondents averaged out a 7.26.
While students were satisfied with how prepared Ohio Wesleyan makes them feel and reports a good level of belonging, students do have complaints, especially about the OWU food services. Students were asked again to rate on a strongly disagree to a strongly agree scale of “I am satisfied with the nutritional value of food served at OWU.”
No students strongly agreed and only 6% agreed. The majority of students, 39% reported mixed opinion. 32% disagreed and 24% strongly disagreed.
The survey given was created by the introduction to journalism class and based on Maslov’s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow proposed in the 1950s that humans are motivated by a 5-tier hierarchical pyramid of human needs. These five levels of needs are physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. From that students based their questions in the survey around those five needs.
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