A report from the 2017 DePauw Climate Survey states staff and faculty think “appreciation for multicultural and international communities” on campus has improved since 2015.
Renee Madison, senior adviser to the president for diversity and compliance, sent the survey to all faculty and staff via email on Oct. 27, 2017.
The results of the survey, presented at the faculty meeting on Monday, also included reports on faculty and staff opinions regarding morale, campus climate, campus conflict management, job satisfaction and respect for DePauw staff. Jarrod Hunt, assistant professor of economics and management, introduced the survey data.
In 2015, only 24 percent of faculty and staff of color believed there was significant appreciation for multicultural and international communities on DePauw’s campus. This past year, that number rose to 48 percent.
Elsewhere in the survey, however, only 26 percent of faculty and staff “strongly agree or agree” that campus morale is high. Also, only 29 percent of faculty and staff overall “strongly agree or agree” conflict is “managed well” on campus. Almost 60 percent of faculty and staff of color would leave their jobs for a comparable job elsewhere, while only 30 percent of white respondents would do the same.
Emmitt Riley, assistant professor of Africana studies, feels that the term “people of color,” a category listed on the graph, is too broad to accurately represent all of the varied ethnicities found on campus.
“Too often we say people of color, and we have to really disentangle what is included in that term ‘people of color,’” he said.
He also noted the term “appreciation” is also unclear, saying, “...the critical question we should be asking is if we’ve seen an increase or change in attitude - what specific communities are responding in a certain way?”
During the faculty meeting, a student questioned if the term “people of color” would include specific racial categories. Madison responded and said, “It will be only people of color, and not a specific racial demographic breakdown, so as to preserve anonymity and confidentiality.”
Towards the end of the faculty meeting, Hunt emphasized that the conversation surrounding the survey will continue in the future. “In the coming weeks,” Hunt said, “there will be a number of full presentations of the survey results and these presentations will provide wonderful opportunities to continue this conversation.”