UW-Madison Launches Campus Climate Survey

University Hopes To Improve Inclusivity By Asking Students About Their Experiences, If They Feel Respected

By
Richard Hurd (CC BY 2.0)

University of Wisconsin-Madison administrators are hoping a first-of-its-kind campus climate survey launched this week will help to improve inclusivity.

Students received a link to the confidential survey Monday, which poses questions like if they’ve experienced intimidating behavior and if they felt included and respected. It touches on topics like race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, political beliefs and religion.

Patrick Sims, UW-Madison vice provost for diversity and climate, said the current campus climate isn’t the best, but it is evolving.

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“Are we where we need to be? Probably not,” Sims said. “We’re mindful of that, and so we’re doing the things we need to do to kind of position ourselves to be more thoughtful and intentional about the commitments that we have.”

The survey comes after multiple racist incidents on campus last spring. The hashtag #therealUW emerged on social media and was used by students to share stories of racism and microaggressions. The latest Bias Incident Report released last week showed the known number of bias incidents more than tripled this year compared to last fall.

Joshua Moon Johnson, chair of the Bias Response Team, said it’s hard to tell whether discrimination is happening more or if reports increased because students are more aware of the reporting process.

Sims said students have faced racial, gender and other forms of discrimination on campuses all over the country for decades. He said what has improved is the commitment to make changes.

“I think what’s different for us is that we have an administration, we have a team of leaders who really are committed to figuring it out,” Sims said.

The survey was proposed in 2015 as part of UW-Madison’s diversity implementation plan and diversity framework. The university has also established 18 initiatives this fall to achieve more diversity and inclusivity, the survey being one of them.

The survey is available until Monday, Nov. 7. The UW Survey Center and the Academic Planning and Institutional Research will analyze the data, which will be available by next spring at the earliest.