Student Culture & Climate Survey 2024

College Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Aspects and Sense of Belonging

Students were asked to express their level of agreement on a series of fourteen statements focusing on specific aspects of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), as well as factors contribung to a sense of belonging within the college community. Ten of the statements were framed posively, meaning that higher levels of agreement and mean scores closer to 5.00 indicate favorable percepons. Four statements were framed negavely, where agreement with the statement reflects unfavorable senments, and disagreement indicates a more favorable view. For these items, mean scores closer to 1.00 are favorable. Among the ten posively framed statements, the highest levels of agreement were regarding students' personal connecon to the college (90.4% agreement), feeling respected (87.4%), experiences in the college posively affecng academic growth (86.6%), a sense of belonging at the college (84.4%), and feeling valued (81.8%). Overall results for these items are in Table 5.1. The statements with the lowest levels of agreement revolved around the college placing appropriate emphasis on DEI issues (70.1% agreement) and finding communies or groups within the college where students feel they belong (67.8%). The negavely framed statements addressed leaving the college, feeling valued and whether or not the college is placing too much emphasis on DEI. Only a small percentage of students (10.8% level of agreement, 80.8% disagreement) considered leaving the college because they felt isolated or unwelcomed and 13.0% agreed that they did not feel their opinions were valued in the college. The level of disagreement on this item was 69.8%.The results for these items are in Table 5.2. However, about one in four students (25.9% agreement) felt that there is too much emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the college and nearly the same percentage, 24.1%, felt they needed to work harder to be valued equally. There were notable differences in responses by demographic groups. Full results can be found in Tables 5.3 through 5.6. • While men and women had fairly similar assessments across most items, men were more likely to agree that the college places too much emphasis on DEI (mean score of 3.16) compared to women (mean score of 2.67). Addionally, men were slightly more likely than women to consider leaving the college, with means of 1.93 and 1.72, respecvely. These items were framed in the negave. • White students had the highest mean scores on the majority of items. In contrast, other BIPOC students rated their experiences regarding being treated with respect the highest (4.40), and Asian students scored 4.00 on finding communies or groups, and 3.97 on feeling valued. Asian students were more likely to consider leaving the college and felt that others do not value their opinions. • Students idenfying as straight had more favorable mean scores on all items, except for the one measuring the percepon of placing too much emphasis on DEI, which showed the largest difference in mean scores, .46 points, between straight (mean score 2.91) and LGBTQIA2S+ students (mean score 2.45). LGBTQIA2S+ students were also more likely to consider leaving the college. • Graduate and undergraduate students had similar mean scores on most items. The largest differences were seen in the percepons of having to work harder to be valued, with undergraduates feeling this more than graduate students, and in the assessment of whether the college has sufficient programs to