On two consecutive Tuesday evenings, March 5 and 12, 1996, Project Pulse conducted a telephone survey for the Office of Human Relations in order to investigate racial and ethnic issues on campus. Interviews were conducted with separate samples of Asian, Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic and White (non-Hispanic) undergraduates. Interviews also were conducted with Native American, and Cape Verdean students, but there were too few cases for these groups to be included in statistical analyses. Random samples of each racial/ethnic group were drawn from the University’s student database. On this database, students’ racial/ethnic background is coded according to one of the following six federally designated categories which students selected upon applying to the University: North or South American Indian/Alaskan; Black, non-Hispanic; Asian/Pacific Islander; Hispanic; White, non-Hispanic; and Cape Verdean. Final dispositions for each of the six samples are presented in Table 1. In order to verify students' racial/ethnic background, respondents in each sample were asked to classify their race/ethnicity as one of the following: Biracial, or Multi-racial; African-American, or Black; Asian-American or Pacific Islander; Cape Verdean; Latino, or Hispanic, or Chicano; Native-American, or North or South American Indian, or Alaskan; White, or Caucasian; or Other. Eighteen students whose self-identification did not correspond to their classification on the University database were re-classified based on their self-identification. The final yields for each racial/ethnic group are as follows: Asian (n=195), White (n=176), Latino (n=168), Black (n=162), Native American (n=22), Cape Verdean (n=16).

The Racial and Ethnic Issues Survey is comprised primarily of questions addressing students’ personal experiences with harassing behaviors on campus. The survey is a revised version of the Racial and Ethnic Harassment Survey previously conducted in 1987, 1990 and 1993. Although some survey questions are identical to those used in previous years, the wording of most of the survey items was revised in order to improve clarity. In addition, a few new items were incorporated. This report presents the results to most of the questions included in the survey. Item-by-item results for all survey questions are available at SARIS, 229 Whitmore.

First, students were asked how likely they would be to recommend UMass to other students of their race or ethnicity. As Figure 1 illustrates, substantially lower proportions of Asians and Blacks than Latinos and Whites said they would be “very likely” to recommend UMass.

Figure 1: How likely would you be to recommend UMass to other students of your race or
ethnicity who are trying to choose a college?
(Chi Sq = 45.14 p = .0000)

Next, students were asked, “To what extent do you think racial and ethnic harassment exists on the UMass campus?” Figure 2 illustrates students’ responses to this question.

Figure 2: To what extent do you think racial and ethnic harassment exists on the UMass campus?
(differences among groups not statistically significant)

Figure 3 illustrates the proportions of students from each group who said they feel “somewhat unsafe” or “very unsafe” from racial and ethnic harassment on the UMass campus. Blacks were significantly more likely than Asians, Latinos and Whites to report feeling unsafe.

Figure 3: How safe from racial and ethnic harassment do you feel on the UMass campus?
(Chi sq = 38.59 p = .0000)

Students were read a series of statements describing different types of behaviors they may hear or see at UMass, and were asked to indicate how frequently they hear or see each. The response categories were as follows: “almost daily,” “a few times per week,” “a few times per month,” “a few times per semester,” and “never.” In order to facilitate a succinct discussion of students’ responses to these items, the responses are routinely collapsed into two groups throughout this report — those who have witnessed or experienced a particular type of behavior (i.e. students who indicated a response other than “never”) and those who have never witnessed/experienced a particular behavior.

Figure 4 illustrates the proportions of students who reported having heard stereotyping/negative remarks by course instructors, staff members and students. This figure shows that students are significantly more likely to hear other students engaging in this type of behavior than instructors or staff.

Figure 4: Proportions of students who reported hearing stereotyping, negative remarks or jokes
that put down members of their racial or ethnic group
(Chi Sq = 15.70 p = .0013)

Next, students were read several statements describing different types of things they may personally experience at UMass, and were asked to indicate how often each happens to them at UMass. The response categories for these items are identical to those in used for the previous set of questions. Figure 5 illustrates the proportions of students from each group who reported having experienced course instructors “failing to challenge negative remarks made by students in class about members of their racial or ethnic group.” Figure 6 illustrates the proportions of students who reported seeing graffiti “putting down” their racial or ethnic group in residence halls or other campus buildings. Figure 7 shows the proportions of respondents who reported having been “singled-out unfairly” by course instructors and staff members because of their race of ethnicity. As shown, significantly larger proportions of Black students than other students reported having experienced each of these things.

Figure 5: Proportions of students who reported course instructors failing to challenge negative remarks
made by students in class about members of their racial or ethnic group
(Chi Sq = 10.08 p = .0179)

Figure 6: Proportions of students who reported seeing graffiti putting down their racial or
ethnic group in residence halls or other campus buildings
(Chi Sq = 15.84 p = .0012)

Figure 7: Proportions of students who reported being singled-out unfairly because of their race or ethnicity
(Chi Sq = 49.17 p = .0000/Chi Sq =40.45 p = .0000)

Figure 8 shows the proportions of students from each group who reported having experienced instructors, staff and other students “making derogatory comments” to them because of their race or ethnicity. White students were significantly less likely than students from the other groups to report having experienced this type of behavior at UMass. As illustrated, the proportions of students who reported having experienced this behavior by other students were much larger for all groups than were the proportions who reported having experienced this behaviors by instructors or staff.

Figure 8: Proportions of students who reported instructors, staff and other students making derogatory
comments to them because of their race or ethnicity
(Chi Sq = 17.49 p = .0006)

Figure 9 shows the proportions of students who reported having been “physically or confronted or assaulted by other students” because of their race or ethnicity. There were no statistically significant differences among the different racial/ethnic groups.

Figure 9: Proportions of students who reported being physically confronted or assaulted by other
students because of their race or ethnicity
(differences among groups not statistically significant)

Students were asked, “Since you have been at UMass, have you ever reported to University staff or course instructors an incident of racial or ethnic harassment that happened to you on campus?” Blacks were significantly more likely than students in the other three groups to say “yes” (16.9% of Blacks vs. 2.6% of Asians, 6.6% of Latinos, and 1.1% of Whites; Chi Sq = 41.83 p = .0000).

Figure 10 illustrates the proportions of students from each racial/ethnic group who reported being very or somewhat confident in the "University's ability to respond effectively to specific incidents of racial and ethnic harassment." As shown, Blacks are less likely to express confidence than students from the other three groups.

Figure 10: How confident are you in the University's ability to respond effectively to
specific incidents of racial and ethnic harassment?
(Chi Sq = 34.94 p = .0001)

Comparison of 1993 and 1996 Survey Results

Four survey items were identical in the 1993 and 1996 Racial Issues Surveys. Year-to-year differences exist on two of these four questions. The proportion of students in each of the four racial/ethnic groups saying that racial/ethnic harassment exists on campus either "to a great extent" or "to a very great extent" diminished significantly from 1993 to 1996 (Blacks 50% to 31%, p=.0073; Asians 28% to 17%, p=.0442; Latinos 41% to 21%, p=.0000; Whites 29% to 18%, p=.0013). Also, the proportion of Blacks, Latinos, and Whites who said they are "very confident" or "somewhat confident" in the University's ability to respond effectively to specific incidents of racial or ethnic harassment increased from 1993 to 1996 (Blacks 27% to 49%, p=.0009; Latinos 48% to 73%, p=.0000; Whites 51% to 71%, p=.0004).

Item-by-Item