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Four reports released Tuesday show that Syracuse University students have little faith in the university and its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Damons Williams, an expert in diversity efforts, and the Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation, led the survey and analysis. They were commissioned by the Board of Trustees Special Committee on University Climate, Diversity and Inclusion.

The survey achieved a 22% response rate among students, 42% among university staff and 47% response among faculty. Williams and his team also compared SU to selected peer institutions and performed an inventory of all ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion programs at SU.

The team released its full reports Tuesday — one executive summary and a separate report for students, faculty and staff — totalling 276 pages.

Here’s a breakdown of what the team learned about SU’s campus culture, how the university compares to other schools and how it can improve going forward:

Experience of students, faculty and staff

Results from the campus climate survey show that 43% of students, 43% of staff and 37% of faculty said they are unsatisfied with the university’s climate.

“This finding is a clear challenge, implying that the entire Syracuse University community is generally disenchanted with their campus experience,” the report reads.

One of the fundamental challenges Williams and his team identified is a substantial disconnect between the university’s commitments to diversity and inclusion and the campus community’s perspective on those commitments.

In early March, the Board of Trustees special committee announced a $50 million investment toward faculty diversification. The university has also increased the number of learning communities geared toward underrepresented communities and hired additional counseling professionals from marginalized identities.

SU tracks its progress toward diversity and inclusion commitments and student demands on its campus commitments webpage.

Despite those promises, the SU community doesn’t have a positive assessment of the university’s institutional commitments to diversity and inclusion, the report concluded.

Many SU students, faculty and staff perceived the university as untrustworthy or as trying to spin or hide information to manipulate perceptions and eliminate conflict, the report found.

“A surprising number of student participants admitted they don’t trust anything the university says,” the report reads.

Students, faculty and staff also expressed distrust in the Department of Public Safety and SU administrators, who many said have inappropriately handled hate incidents on campus and protests.

Participants also expressed a desire for a public apology from SU officials and the need for greater accountability among senior administration, deans, department chairs and faculty.

The research conducted by Williams and his team also found a campus climate of fear, microaggressions and conflict, with students, faculty and staff sharing personal experiences of bias and discrimination at SU.

One Native American student was told that her people are extinct. Other students shared experiences of their professors making racist or ableist comments in class. Others said professors questioned or refused their requests for disability accommodations or religious observance absences.

Students also reported a lack of authentic Asian, kosher, halal and other ethnic or regional foods on campus, leaving some students feeling disconnected from their identities or skipping meals.

The report also found a general fear of members of the Greek community and Greek row. Some students mentioned that certain schools, dorms and areas on campus feel significantly less welcoming of diverse students than others.

“Sadly, some diverse dialogue group participants stated they did not want to be on campus or were not interested in returning next year, and many mentioned friends who had not returned or were intending to leave Syracuse,” the report reads.

Inventory of diversity, equity and inclusion programs

Williams’ report divides SU’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs into two categories — emerging strengths and challenges and opportunities.

According to the report, SU’s emerging strengths include diversity, equity and inclusion dialogues and training programs, such as intergroup dialogue programs, diversity-focused courses, professional development programs and educational events.

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More stories on diversity and inclusion at SU:

• Breaking down the Board of Trustees diversity and inclusion recommendations
• Syverud announces diversity and inclusion plan in winter message
• Chancellor Syverud announces 2020-21 Council on Diversity and Inclusion
• SU to continue diversity and inclusion events online

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SU’s growing diversity, equity and inclusion strategy and commitment — including the hiring of a chief diversity officer and other diversity officers across campus — is another emerging strength, according to the report.

Williams and his team also noted the actions SU took in the wake of the Theta Tau video and its response to #NotAgainSU demands as emerging strengths. #NotAgainSU, a Black student led movement, protested a series of racist and bias-related incidents across campus last academic year with an eight-day sit-in at the Barnes Center at The Arch and a 32-day occupation of Crouse-Hinds Hall.

Students and faculty have criticized university administrators for their response to these incidents.

The report showed that identity-affirming programs, services and initiatives that SU offers — including the National Veterans Resource Center, the Center for Disability Resources, Hendricks Chapel, counseling services, Office of Multicultural Affairs, La Casita, the LGBT Resource Center and the Center for International Services — are examples of other emerging strengths in the university’s diversity and inclusion efforts.

The last strength that the report identified was SU’s diverse and culturally competent faculty and staff, though it noted that these employees are an under-recognized yet “foundational” part of SU’s diversity efforts. This includes SU’s chaplains and staff members in the university’s diversity offices, as well as individual faculty and staff members “who helped diverse students to navigate the campus community.”

The report also highlights five main weaknesses in SU’s diversity and inclusion efforts. Williams and his team found that the campus climate surrounding fear, microaggression and conflict was one of the university’s main weaknesses.

The team also found that SU lacked sufficient diversity, equity and inclusion skills, training and courses. The university should institute more mandatory training and learn to avoid insensitive and problematic language, according to the report.

The university also lacks a comprehensive strategic plan and should incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion into the broader curriculum.

SU’s current DEI programs fall into six categories: general infrastructure, recruitment, retention and outreach, preparing students for a diverse global world, multicultural and international research, affirming diverse identities and community building and DEI training, campus climate research and policy development, according to the report.

Comparison to peer institutions

The survey also evaluated the university’s data, structures and programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion compared to nine other colleges and universities similar to SU.

The “peer institutions” include Boston College, Cornell University, George Washington University, Lehigh University, Penn State University, the University of Connecticut, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin.

The report found that SU is one of the more diverse institutions among the group, with the highest proportion of international and Native American students and a high percentage of Black students.

Based on data for 2018 and 2019, 13% of the population is made up of international students and .53% are Native American students.

SU also had the third-highest percentage of Black undergraduate students, with Black students making up 6% of the overall population. It had the seventh-largest population of Hispanic and Latino students, who only made up 9% of the population.

SU had the highest number of tenured faculty who are women or who identify as Black. 38% of tenured faculty are women and 6% identify as Black.

SU came in last among the nine peer institutions for Hispanic or Latino tenure-track faculty, which only made up 3% of the population, and second to last for the percentage of Native American tenure-track faculty. The university ranked fifth for the percent of international faculty and sixth for Asian-American Faculty.

Shannon Kirkpatrick | Presentation Director

The report showed that there were almost two students who are part of underrepresented minority groups for every faculty member in an underrepresented minority group. This ranked SU near the middle of the group in terms of the equity gap between the number of faculty and students in underrepresented minority groups.

SU also had the third highest number of Black people in management or leadership roles, but was near the bottom of the rankings for the percentage of Hispanic or Latino and Asian American individuals in management or leadership roles.

Next steps

While SU has made a “solid start” with a significant number of programs, the report outlines a few ways that the university should move forward in supporting anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion on campus.

The university should continue to build the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Office and should also create and fund a campus-wide diversity, equity and inclusion plan and accountability system, which is already underway, according to the report.

SU should offer regular town halls to receive community input and create a diversity, equity and inclusion platform that will annually inform the community about progress and actions.

The university already has diversity and inclusion training in place for faculty and staff, but these efforts can be scaled up, the report said. Most importantly, SU needs an integrated diversity and inclusion professional development framework and implementation model.

The report found that despite overall dissatisfaction with and cynicism toward the university’s commitments to diversity and inclusion, many students were able to find community and a sense of belonging on campus.

It is not uncommon that white students felt a stronger sense of belonging because of their majority in numbers on campus, the report said. While the general campus experience affirms white students’ identity and presence through these numbers, the same cannot be said for students of underrepresented identities.

There are many best practices in terms of enhancing faculty and staff diversity, and SU’s commitment of $50 million is a step in the right direction, the report said.

Faculty can lead the way in creating an integrated approach to diversity and inclusion as a general education requirement, the report said. SEM 100 was far from perfect, but it was a good first step, the report said.

SU will be replacing SEM 100 with FYS 101 next year for incoming first-year students. Faculty involved in FYS 101 said they believe it will be better at creating conversations about race and identity than SEM 100.

“Admittedly, changing how we normally do business is much more difficult and complex than simply establishing a new dedicated DEI program,” the report said. “Integrating DEI forces us to truly examine our values at their core and stand up to implement them in everyday activities.”

Published on March 30, 2021 at 11:14 pm