Dear Campus Community:

In the fall 2021 semester, the Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Office of Academic Planning and Assessment conducted a campus-wide survey to assess perceptions and experiences of inclusion, respect and belonging within the university community. The widely received survey yielded a 41.6 percent response rate, providing the university with an in-depth look into the campus climate as we work towards building strategic initiatives for a more inclusive and equitable UMass Amherst.

As the semester progresses, we will be releasing monthly reports on themes that have emerged from analyzing the survey results. Today, we release a report and interactive dashboards on our communities’ feelings of personal connection and friendships.

Survey participants were asked how personally connected they feel to various areas and populations, such as their major/department, college/school, and other faculty, staff and students. While some populations showed a high feeling of connectedness, a deeper dive into results by social identity reveals some differences in self-reported connection to peers and/or faculty/instructors.

Survey participants were also asked to consider the similarities and differences in identity groups of their five closest friends, as the successful development of a campus climate of inclusion depends on community members’ developing connections with others whose backgrounds and identity characteristics are different from their own.

As the Campus Climate Survey reports are released, the Office of Equity and Inclusion will continuously engage the UMass community to create area specific equity action plans. These equity action plans will be essential in improving campus climate in all areas of the university.

We encourage you to engage with the report and interactive dashboards, watch our presentation explaining the findings, and utilize our toolkit to aid in understanding, interpreting and reflecting on the findings of the survey.

We look forward to connecting with you again with our next in-depth report on campus climate.

Sincerely,

Nefertiti A. Walker
Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion