DAPS - Perceptions

Diversity Assessment at Portland State (DAPS)

Key Indicator A1. Perceptions of campus climate for and commitment to diversity.

For this key indicator, we looked for data regarding how students, staff, and faculty perceive Portland State's climate for and commitment to diversity. With regard to diversity assessment, our question is whether people from different social groups perceive Portland State's climate and diversity commitment differently.

Regarding staff and faculty perceptions, we have found very little. A 2007 survey of tenured faculty generated some general information about satisfaction and morale within that group, but does not offer specific information about perceptions of climate for diversity.

With regard to student perceptions, two questions from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) are relevant. PSU administers the NSSE every two years to first-year students and seniors. This permits measurement of student self-reported data within the context of a national, standard set of questions. PSU's Office of Institutional Research and Planning (OIRP), however, does not recommend comparing our NSSE data with data from other institutions, citing differences in sampling and administration methods.

NSSE data allow us to disaggregate by gender, race, and class standing (first-year students compared to seniors). To date, we have found no data on perception of climate that would allow us to disaggregate by other diversity variables, such as ability/disability, gender expression and identity, religion, sexual preference, or Veteran's status (NSSE does include a question on Veteran's status, but the numbers in our 2007 sample are too small to allow analysis).

The two questions we have used as data for student perceptions of institutional climate for and commitment to diversity are as follows.

• "To what extent does your institution encourage contact among students from different economic, social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds?" (NSSE Question 10c)
• "To what extent has your experience at this institution contributed to your knowledge, skills, and personal development in understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds?" (NSSE Question 11l)

Responses to both questions above show an interaction between race/ethnicity and sex, with White, non-Hispanic male students responding differently than other students. This pattern has pedagogical implications that deserve exploration.

NSSE data provided by Juliette Stoering, OIRP. See http://nsse.iub.edu/html/quick_facts.cfm for more information about the NSSE. A brief report on the 2007 survey of tenured faculty provided by Professor Bob Liebman, Sociology Department. Analysis of NSSE data by Jonathan Berkman, GRA in the ODE; this text by Martha Balshem. Please e-mail comments to diversity@pdx.edu.