“Have you done it yet?”The link for the “Colgate Sexual Climate” Survey is prominently featured on the portal when any student signs onto the Colgate Portal. The survey attempts to gain insight into a variety of sexually related information, such as sexual habits and activities, sexual orientation and the use of derogatory terms involving sex and sexual orientations. The survey offers participants enticing prizes, such as the possibility to win one of two iPod Shuffles or one of three $50 cash prizes.The survey is, in part, the brainchild of senior Ilyse Morgenstein and six other students who decided to create the survey after a discussion on sex and sexuality. They intended the survey to reveal how sex and sexuality affect the campus and to what extent they impact students’ interactions with each other. Rather than rely on imprecise observation and what is considered common knowledge, the group decided to use a scientific model to answer its questions. Posters advertise the survey as being done as part of an “independent project,” which the group of students is working on.”I realize that ‘independent project’ implies one student working independently,” Morgenstein said, “but a collaborative group has some impressive precedent at Colgate. We modeled the idea for a group independent project on the students that created the COVE some years ago.”To be sure they did everything by the book, the group enlisted the help of five Colgate faculty members from the diverse departments of Mathematics, Philosophy and Religion and Psychology and Sociology/Anthropology. The questions were strongly influenced by similar surveys from the past. “We spent the first half of the semester reading similar surveys that were conducted and subsequently published in academic journals,” Morgenstein said. “[We] felt very strongly about rooting our project in widely published and respected existing survey.”The group was also very conscientious in the actual wording of the questions. Wanting to be as accurate and unbiased as possible, it put a significant amount of time into finding the right content and wording for each question. “It took the entirety of the first half of the semester to write, edit, rewrite, reedit and at long last finish the survey,” she said.Another priority of the group was to make sure the survey was all-inclusive and not biased towards members of a particular gender or sexual orientation. The group wanted a completely accurate, all-around depiction of how sexuality in general influences the lives of Colgate students. “It was important to all of us to be as impartial and unbiased as possible,” Morgenstein said. “The survey is completely inclusive of all types of sexes, genders and sexualities.” The survey runs through April 1 so at press time, the results have not been analyzed. None of the researchers have an idea as to what the results of the survey may look like. If everything turns out the way they hope, however, the results will paint a detailed and accurate picture of the influence of student sexuality at Colgate.