Before the first question was even asked, 735 students declined to participate in the Campus Climate for LGBT Students survey.

Whether that was because of time constraints or because of the topic, is not known, but more research is coming as a result of the recent survey.

A survey done by Penn State Pulse concerning the campus climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students may be the first step in finding out students' unwillingness to participate in the survey.

The amount of respondents to the phone survey says something about the climate itself, said Sue Rankin, senior diversity analyst for the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity.

Out of 1,606 randomly selected students, 735 or 46 percent did not agree to participate.

"We did have a slightly lower agreement to participate than we usually do," said Betty L. Moore, the director of the Student Affairs Research and Assessment Office, which conducted the survey.

The participation rate may have been influenced by the topic, Rankin said.

Thirty-two percent of respondents thought that the campus climate was supportive of LGBT students.

"I think that's reflective. . . The way I feel about this campus is to a certain extent, it is supportive," said Elad Nevo (senior-communications), political co-director of the Lambda Student Alliance.

Hearing derogatory comments, especially in the classroom, was an issue that was discussed numerous times during Unity Week as well as in the survey. Making up 1 percent of the sample were those likely to refer a student whose instructor had made a derogatory comment about LGBT students to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Resource Room housed in 328 Grange Building.

Students willing to seek information for themselves in the resource room made up 8 percent.

"I think there are a number of reasons. . .I think one of the things is that we've only been here for two years," Rankin said of the room.

"If there are students that are questioning (their sexuality) they feel uncomfortable coming to the LGBT Resource Room," she said, adding that the resource room also has its information online at www.lions.psu. edu/lgbt.

Students would not refer a person who had made the comment to the resource room, because the person wouldn't go, Nevo said. He added that instead of referring people to seek out information after hearing a derogatory remark, students should question those people until they realize how upsetting it was.

The resource room was mentioned as a part of an open-ended question and probably reflects a general unawareness of what might be there, Moore said.

Another idea that came from the survey was that 26 percent of minorities spoken to in the survey would go to LGBT social events .

This is in contrast to 16 percent of the non-minority population who said they would attend the events.

"I think maybe it's possible that minorities feel more in solidarity with LGBT people . . . we are all discriminated against in different ways," said Neill Johnson, chair of the Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Equity, the commission which called for the survey.

The survey, however, provides no answers to the reasons why people answered the way that they did.

"One shouldn't go too much further than what the survey asks," Moore said.

Thirty-two trained Pulse workers conducted the survey by calling randomly selected students.

Students were asked open and close-ended questions during interviews that lasted about five minutes.

Before administering this survey, which was designed by a committee made up of many individuals including students and faculty, workers had a meeting that focused on sensitivity training.