Toolkit: Perceptions of Climate

Thinking about your own experiences and interactions, please rate the campus overall on each scale below:

• Unwelcoming ← →  Welcoming 
• Hostile ← → Friendly
• Unsafe ← → Safe
• Not Collaborative ← → Collaborative
• Disrespectful ← → Respectful
• Not Inclusive ← → Inclusive
• Intolerant ← → Tolerant
• Not Diverse ← → Diverse
• Unsupportive ← → Supportive
• Weak sense of community ← → Strong sense of community

How likely are you to recommend UMass Amherst to others? (Very Likely, Somewhat Likely, Somewhat Unlikely, Very Unlikely)

How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the racial climate at UMass Amherst?

How committed or uncommitted to inclusion is UMass Amherst as an institution?

Overall survey results support the idea that one’s sense of belonging hinges on connection to peers and colleagues. One positive finding is that vast majorities of both students and faculty reported that at least one of their five closest friends at UMass Amherst is of a gender different from their own, and that at least one is of a different race/ethnicity.

Students

• For both undergraduate and graduate students, the overall mean on the campus climate measure is 3.7. Groups whose ratings fall below this mean include Black, Multiracial, LGB, transgender and nonbinary students, as well as students with a mental health disability. Conversely, groups whose ratings exceed the mean include International and heterosexual students, as well as cisgender men.
• Satisfaction with overall campus climate is highest among International and Asian students, while only 26% of Black and 25% of Multiracial graduate students reported being Very Satisfied or Somewhat Satisfied with the campus racial climate. 
• Non-binary students and students with a mental health disability were more likely to perceive the University as uncommitted to inclusion than their cisgender and non-disabled counterparts.
• When it comes to perceptions of safety, cisgender, heterosexual, male students are notable statistical outliers. This demographic was 22% more likely to rate safety at a 4 or 5 than the UMass mean of 61%. By comparison, students who identify as Black, LGBTQ+, or multiply-disabled were 13 - 25% less likely to report a strong sense of safety than the UMass mean.

Staff and Faculty

• The overall mean on the campus climate measure was similar for both staff (3.5) and faculty (3.6). Groups with a higher perception of campus climate include Asian staff, staff in managerial roles, and male faculty members.
• Similar to the data from student demographics, staff and faculty groups whose ratings fell below the mean include Black and Latinx staff, as well as disabled faculty and staff, who were 15 - 18% more likely to perceive the institution as uncommitted to inclusion than their non-disabled peers.
• Among both staff and faculty, Asian employees were most likely to indicate satisfaction with the campus racial climate, whereas Black, Latinx, and Multiracial employees were least likely to indicate satisfaction. 

What is your initial response to this data? Which emotions do you notice? (Note: you may find this Feelings Inventory list helpful!)

Members of marginalized or minoritized groups most directly impacted might feel…

• Affirmed to see their experiences reflected
• Frustrated that this experience is not already common knowledge
• Cautious/skeptical about the potential for change
• Vigilant to see how others will respond 

Those not directly impacted, but who strive towards allyship might feel…

• Surprise or sadness to learn that things are “worse than you realized”
• Increasingly committed to advocate for positive change and growth
• A sense of urgency to act immediately and fix every problem

Those who have not yet had an opportunity (or obligation) to consider these topics might feel…

• Disengaged -- ”what  does this have to do  with me anyway?”

• Confused, impatient, or even irritated by others’ strong reactions

• Embarrassed by a lack of knowledge or awareness

Remember that there is no right or wrong way to feel--all emotional responses are helpful information!

One common response to climate survey data is to question the validity of the survey tools or outcomes before (or even instead of) deeply considering the findings themselves – and what they may reveal about our communities and ourselves. If you have noticed this type of deflection or defensiveness in yourself or others…

• How do you know? What does deflection look and sound like?
• Where do you think this defensiveness comes from? How is it trying to help or protect?
• What do you need in order to move through deflection and become available for reflection?

Questions for Self Reflection

• As we saw in the previous toolkit on Connectedness & Friendships, our social spheres strongly impact our experiences and perceptions of the world around us. Which social identity groups are well-represented among your social and professional circles? Which identity groups are underrepresented or absent, and how could you learn more about those experiences and perspectives?
• Think of a time when your existing perceptions or assumptions about an individual or group were challenged. What happened? Did it shift your thinking? If so, how?
• Think of a time when something YOU said or did disrupted another person’s assumptions or biases. What assumption were they making? How did you respond or react?
• What does safety feel like to you? How do you know when you are feeling either safe or unsafe? Which people and environments provide a reliable sense of safety, and what about them evokes that feeling?

Questions for Group Reflection

In the previous toolkit focused on Connections and Friendships, a series of independent reflection questions invited individuals to consider the potential role of defensiveness and deflection in responding to campus climate data. In utilizing this engagement guide on Campus Climate, groups and teams are encouraged to continue this exploration by sharing the results of that reflection in dialogue with one another.

• How do you recognize defensiveness in yourself and others when it occurs? What does deflection look and sound like to you?
• Where do you think this defensiveness comes from? How is it trying to help or protect?
• What do you need in order to move through deflection and become available for reflection? 
• How can we, as team members, best support one another in this learning? How will we name and disrupt defensiveness when it threatens to derail or distract from our growth?

Important Ideas: Equity-Minded Data Analysis

When reflecting on this climate data, it is crucial to intentionally apply an equity lens throughout our inquiry. While equality focuses on everyone having an identical experience, equity asks, “what does each unique individual or group need in order to have equitable access to resources and opportunities for success?” This mode of thinking focuses on both recognizing patterns of inequitable outcomes and getting curious about the attitudes, assumptions, and actions that might be contributing to those patterns. Building individual and collective awareness of the ways that systemic inequity shapes data is a necessary first step towards challenging and disrupting the underlying cultural factors at play.

In the process of equity-minded sense-making, we shift our tendency to move immediately from data to action-oriented ‘improvement plans’. Instead, we open up a space between information and action to ask questions that lead us to the heart of the “WHY”.

Some equity-minded inquiries might include:

• Who is represented in this data? Who is not? Why?
• How might my own identities, experiences, assumptions, and/or biases contribute to my interpretation of the data?
• Whose experiences and perspectives should we learn more about to understand this data more deeply? What else do we need to know, and how will we access that information?
• Are there barriers in our practices, policies, and systems? What root causes might explain the outcomes we are observing?
• Who and what should be prioritized to improve equity?

Important Ideas: Multiplicity of Truths

When engaging with data regarding perceptions of campus climate, it may be tempting to dismissively equate “perception” with “opinion”, especially when confronted with information that does not feel reflective of our own lived experience. The waters get even murkier when the data involves or evokes emotions, which mainstream U.S. culture often treats as less meaningful or valuable than more objective forms of quantitative data. One challenge we may encounter when engaging with the Campus Climate Survey results is our openness to a multiplicity of truths – a recognition that perception IS reality, and that multiple realities can and do co-exist. 

Of course, in an ideal world, all members of our campus community would have similarly positive perceptions of the campus climate. But our perceptions of and attitudes about the social settings we inhabit are shaped by our varied – and sometimes inequitable – lived experiences, including our interactions with other members of the campus community. It is crucial to recognize the minoritized groups whose experiences fall outside of the aggregate norms, because there are valuable stories and insights that reside there. What might we learn if we attune to the margins instead of the center?

If your personal experience hews closely to the campus mean, consider this an invitation to practice seeking to understand, before seeking to be understood. One gift of this climate data is the opportunity to practice sitting with truths that differ from our own, but are equally as real for those who inhabit them.

What would it look like to prioritize the needs of the most marginalized among us? To invest in the work of equity and justice is to remember that inclusion hurts no one, and that all ships rise with the tide.

Continued Opportunities for Learning & Engagement

Equity-Minded Data Analysis:

• What is Equity-Mindedness?
• Looking at Data Through an Equity Lens
• Do No Harm Guide: Applying Equity Awareness in Data Visualization

Multiplicity of Truths:

• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story (video)
  • Text Version with Reflection Questions
• Ten Tips for Putting Intersectionality into Practice
• This Is How Perception Creates Your Reality

Campus Climate:

• Campus Climate and the National Dialogue on Diversity & Inclusion (blog series)
• Speaking Truth and Acting with Integrity: Confronting Challenges of Campus Racial Climate

Take Action: Reporting Options

It can often be challenging to discern between an incident of mistreatment, an expression of outright bias, or a hurtful misunderstanding. What will always be clear, however, is how the situation makes us feel – and its very real impact on whether or not we feel accepted, supported, and valued. One way to take action when you experience or observe this type of occurrence is to submit a bias incident report. Reports not only allow UMass to offer resources and support to those directly involved, but also help to identify community-wide patterns and growth areas.