CU-Boulder PBA Survey Reports Comments

CU-BOULDER CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY, FALL 2006 Office of Planning, Budget, and Analysis July 2007 Campus Climate 2006 posting: http://www.colorado.edu/pba/surveys/Climate/06/index.htm

Questions? Send e-mail to [email protected]

CU-Boulder’s Climate Overview:

In fall 2006, we asked a random sample of 1,581 undergraduate and 415 graduate students to tell us about:  their level of comfort on the Boulder campus and in the community  the extent to which they feel they fit in and are welcome at UCB  their experiences with stereotyping  how often they hear negative remarks or see negative behaviors targeted at members of certain groups.

Web-based questionnaires were completed by 404 undergraduates and 166 graduate students, for an overall response rate of 29%. Highlights from the survey are presented below. Data have been weighted to account for oversampling of ethnic/minority students so that overall results represent the general campus population.

Overall, students rate the campus as friendly and welcoming. As in 2001, approximately 80% of both graduate (79%) and undergraduate students (78%) report feeling accepted on campus, and a majority view the campus environment as friendly and welcoming. It’s notable, however, that undergraduate students report higher ratings of connectedness and friendliness regarding the campus environment than do graduate students. For example, three-quarters of undergraduates view the classroom environment as friendly, whereas slightly less than two-thirds (61%) of graduate students do. One-fifth of undergraduates (21%) and slightly over one-quarter of graduate students (29%) report feeling disconnected from academic and social life on campus. Hardly any students (1% of undergraduates) indicate that they feel physically threatened on campus; and few students (8% of undergraduates; 14% of graduate students) report feeling left out.

Campus friendly and welcoming

How often… accepted classroom friendly outside class friendly welcome Grad valued UG supported different disconnected left out

physically threatened

0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent saying Often or Very Often

Note: “friendly” items assess the extent to which experiences inside and outside the classroom are friendly; shown are the percents of students who say “pretty much” or “very much.”

PBA: [email protected] – D:\Docs\2018-04-20\05f7545d4cb2c46cb1d11e414f105186.doc -- 05/18/18 1 Students are generally comfortable in class and rate the classroom environment quite favorably.

Approximately 80% of both undergraduate and graduate students report being comfortable in class. Graduate students, however, are more comfortable interacting with faculty than are undergraduates (90% vs. 70%). Both graduate and undergraduate students report a relatively lower level of comfort expressing their views in class.

Comfort in class: How comfortable ...

being in class Grad interacting w ith faculty UG expressing view in class

0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent saying Som e w hat or Very Com fortable

Two-thirds of graduate students and slightly over 80% of undergraduate students believe that the classroom environment is civil and non-threatening. A majority (66% of undergrads and 75% of graduate students) also report that classrooms are accessible to persons with disabilities. Very few report that the climate is racist or sexist.

Climate inside the classroom

disability access

homophobic Grad disrespectful UG

racist

sexist

0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent saying Pretty or Very M uch

PBA: [email protected] – D:\Docs\2018-04-20\05f7545d4cb2c46cb1d11e414f105186.doc -- 05/18/18 2 Over 80% of both undergraduate and graduate students indicate that faculty value diversity. However, somewhat fewer students -- approximately two thirds of both undergraduate and graduate students -- report that diversity is accepted in the classroom, and less than half of both undergraduate and graduate students say that diversity is valued outside of the classroom environment. Students at CU-Boulder and the Boulder community both received relatively low ratings regarding the extent to which they value diversity, when compared with student government, staff and administrators, and faculty.

How much do groups value/accept diversity

student govt

faculty

administration/staff

students Grad Boulder community UG Diversity accepted in: classroom

outside class

0 20 40 60 80 100

Percent saying Some or Very Much

Students view the climate outside the classroom somewhat less favorably than the climate in academic settings. That being said, the climate outside the classroom is still rated as quite respectful and accessible by a majority of students. In addition, over half of undergraduates (60%) and slightly under half of graduate students (48%) view the climate outside the classroom as civil. Fortunately, students who view the outside-classroom climate as homophobic, racist, or sexist are a much smaller minority. Only about 15% of both undergraduate and graduate students report that the outside-classroom environment is “pretty much” or “very much” racist; fewer students (9% of undergraduates and12% of graduates) view the environment as sexist. Of some note, however, is that more undergraduate students (21%) than graduate students (15%) view the outside-classroom climate as “pretty much” or “very much” homophobic.

Climate outside the classroom

disability access

homophobic Grad racist UG

disrespectful

sexist

0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent saying Pretty or Very m uch

PBA: [email protected] – D:\Docs\2018-04-20\05f7545d4cb2c46cb1d11e414f105186.doc -- 05/18/18 3 Although students report that they rarely hear faculty make disparaging remarks, this is not the case for their fellow students. Only 4% or less of all students report “often” or “constantly” hearing faculty make disparaging comments targeted at people in each of the groups shown below. These were most often directed at people with strong religious beliefs.

How often hear faculty make disparaging remarks about...

w omen w hites resident students Grad people w /strong religion UG out of state students non-English speakers men gay,lesbian.bisexual foreign students ethnic/racial minorities people w /disabilities

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Perce nt saying Often or Constantly

In contrast, one in five students report “often” or “constantly” hearing other students make disparaging comments targeted at people with strong religious beliefs. Additionally, between 10-15% of all students report “often” or “constantly” hearing negative remarks targeted at the GLBT community. One in ten undergraduates also report hearing other students make disparaging remarks about ethnic or racial minorities, and even more undergraduates (16%) report hearing disparaging remarks from fellow students about women. In reference to all of these groups, except for those with strong religious affiliation, far fewer graduate students report hearing such remarks from their fellow students.

How often hear students make disparaging remarks about...

w omen Grad w hites UG

resident students

people w /strong religion

out of state students

non-English speakers

gay,lesbian,bisexual

foreign students

ethnic/racial minorities

people w /disabilities

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percent saying Often or Constantly

PBA: [email protected] – D:\Docs\2018-04-20\05f7545d4cb2c46cb1d11e414f105186.doc -- 05/18/18 4 In general, undergraduates are only slightly less likely than graduate students to indicate a willingness to challenge derogatory remarks, except in regards to people with physical disabilities. About one-half to two-thirds of all students report that they would be “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to challenge derogatory remarks about the categories listed below, with the exception of religion.

Likelihood of challenging derogatory remarks about...

ethnicity

physical abilities Grad gender UG religion

sexual orientation

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Pe rce nt saying Som ew hat or Very Likely

Both undergraduate and graduate students indicate a high degree of comfort in campus and community social settings. Both undergraduate and graduate students are the most comfortable (90% vs. 94%, respectively) shopping and eating in Boulder. The three other venues in which both undergraduate and graduate students feel the most comfortable are working out at the Recreation Center, hanging out at the UMC, and looking for a place to rent in Boulder. More undergraduate students (68-79%) than graduate students (62-66%) are comfortable in the first two settings, whereas more graduate students (73%) than undergraduates (62%) report that they are comfortable when looking for a place to rent in Boulder. Somewhat more undergraduate than graduate students report that they are somewhat or very comfortable participating in campus social life. The lower proportion of graduate students reporting they are comfortable using the Recreation Center, participating in campus social life, and hanging out on the Hill is likely due to the fact that they are not on campus nearly as much as are undergraduates. For all students, hypothetical interactions with city and campus police are deemed least comfortable, but more so for undergraduates. Other data available in our office indicate that undergraduates are more likely than graduate students to have had actual encounters with city and university police.

Comfort in social settings

shop/eating Boulder

using rec center

hanging out UMC

partic cmps social life Grad hanging out on Hill UG looking place to rent

getting counslng/suprt

interacting w ith CUPD

interacting w / Bldr PD

0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent saying Som ew hat or Very Com fortable

PBA: [email protected] – D:\Docs\2018-04-20\05f7545d4cb2c46cb1d11e414f105186.doc -- 05/18/18 5 Data tables for graphs

Campus Climate Survey 2006 Table of Contents

Data source: L ir survey climate climate06 report layout_bylevel.xls (AtaGlance_layout_v3.sas), July 2007

PBA: [email protected] – D:\Docs\2018-04-20\05f7545d4cb2c46cb1d11e414f105186.doc -- 05/18/18 6