Dive Brief:
- A survey of University of California students, faculty, and staff shows that about a quarter of them have experienced exclusionary, intimidating, or offensive situations on campus.
- About 9% of the survey respondents said the incidents interfered with their ability to study or work.
- About 6% of undergraduates in the survey reported unwanted sexual contact within the last five years.
Dive Insight:
On the plus side, 73% of undergraduate respondents in the survey said they felt comfortable or very comfortable in their classes, with only 6% feeling uncomfortable. Students and faculty in minority groups were less comfortable: 84% of the white survey respondents were comfortable in their classes, while 74% of the black, Latino and Asian respondents were comfortable. The survey garnered about 104,000 responses — 27% of those who were polled. The study was commissioned in 2010 as a response to racial and religious bias incidents, including the painting and carving of a swastika on the UC-Davis campus, an off-campus student party held at UC-San Diego that mocked African Americans, and campus protests about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The goal is to establish a baseline to measure the effectiveness of inclusion efforts at individual UC schools.
