HEALS Survey
Overview
The Harmful Exclusion Alleviation Longitudinal Study (HEALS) was developed by the National Opinion Research Council (NORC) and Columbia's Anti-Semitism Task Force and run for the first time in Summer 2024. It is a centrally administered survey designed to systematically track students’ experiences and attitudes with respect to inclusion, belonging, acceptance; cross-cultural interactions; antisemitism; Islamophobia; and freedom of expression. Last year, OPIR invited all Columbia students to share their AY24–25 experiences starting on Thursday, June 26, 2025 and closing on August 8th, 2025.
Participation was voluntary, responses were confidential, and the results are used exclusively for administrative planning and assessment purposes.
7/3/2025 Update: We want to acknowledge recent concerns about the data breach that took place last week. While the incident is being actively investigated with the assistance of a gold standard cybersecurity forensics firm and law enforcement, at this time, there is no indication that any data related to the HEALS survey was exposed or compromised.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- All responses remained strictly confidential.
- No individually identifiable data was reported. Your data was only be reported in the aggregate. In aggregate reports, cell sizes fewer than five were masked.
- OPIR securely houses the row level data. Your identified survey response will never leave OPIR.
- Identifiers were removed as soon as the survey closed. Any personally identifiable information (e.g., email address) were permanently removed from your survey response. Once PII were removed, it was no longer possible to use them to identify your response.
Yes, this survey was completely voluntary. You could have answered as few or as many questions as you wished.
All students at Columbia University, 18 or older, who were enrolled in the 2024–2025 academic year.
As a token of appreciation, students who complete the survey could have chosen to enter a random drawing to win one one of the following prizes:
- 10 x $200 Visa gift card
- 20 x $100 Visa gift card
- 50 x $50 Visa gift card
- 100 x $25 Visa gift card
Note: The incentive survey to enter the random drawing was not connected in any way to your survey response. It was a completely separate survey from which all that can be inferred is that a respondent completed the survey
You can find the HEALS survey in your email inbox. Look for a message from [email protected] with the subject line:
“Share your climate experiences! Take the HEALS survey.”
The email includes your unique survey link.
It took approximately 10–15 minutes to complete. If were unable to finish the survey in one sitting, your progress was be saved. You could have used the unique link in your email to access it later.