Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 53.97
Liaison Stephen Ellis
Submission Date Aug. 2, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Boston University
PA-5: Assessing Diversity and Equity

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Stephen Ellis
Director, Data Analytics
BU Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution engaged in a structured assessment process during the previous three years to improve diversity, equity and inclusion on campus?:
Yes

A brief description of the assessment process and the framework, scorecard(s) and/or tool(s) used:

Affirmative Action Plan: Boston University, like all federal contractors, prepares an Affirmative Action Plan annually. It is not possible to provide results in this format, since the plan analyzes the entire employee population by job group and it is a very extensive analysis. The results are used to assist the University in understanding whether our employee population has appropriate representation of women and minorities in the various types of employee groups. This information informs us of where efforts need to be directed to improve recruiting for certain kinds of positions.

Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey: BU conducted a Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey of all undergraduate students (27,086 undergraduates) in March 2015. The results were reported to the campus community and are used to inform prevention and education activities provided by Student Affairs and SARP.


Does the assessment process address campus climate by engaging stakeholders to assess the attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of faculty, staff, administrators and students, including the experiences of underrepresented groups?:
Yes

Does the assessment process address student outcomes related to diversity, equity and success (e.g. graduation/success and retention rates for underrepresented groups)?:
No

Does the assessment process address employee outcomes related to diversity and equity (e.g. pay and retention rates for underrepresented groups)?:
No

A brief description of the most recent assessment findings and how the results are used in shaping policy, programs and initiatives:

Affirmative Action Plan:
N/A

Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey:
> A total of 5,875 students responded to the survey, a 22% participation rate.
> One in six respondents (18%) reported experiencing some form of sexual assault while a BU student. (There are significant variations by gender in the numbers that make up this average, which is consistent with averages reported by other institutions conducting climate surveys.)
> A majority of reported incidents involved alcohol use: 78% of respondents who reported experiencing sexual misconduct say that they had consumed alcohol beforehand and 86% say their assailants had.
> A majority of respondents (63%) who reported experiencing sexual misconduct said that the incidents occurred off campus.
> A large majority (94%) of respondents reported feeling safe on campus.


Are the results of the most recent structured diversity and equity assessment shared with the campus community?:
Yes

A brief description of how the assessment results are shared with the campus community:

Affirmative Action Plan:
> The results are used to assist the University in understanding whether our employee population has appropriate representation of women and minorities in the various types of employee groups. This information informs us of where efforts need to be directed to improve recruiting for certain kinds of positions.

Sexual Misconduct Climate Survey:
> The results were shared by a campus-wide email from the University President, a story in the campus newspaper, and in a publicly posted reported.


Are the results (or a summary of the results) of the most recent structured diversity and equity assessment publicly posted?:
Yes

The diversity and equity assessment report or summary:
The website URL where the report or summary is publicly posted:
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

This includes our most recent report as of FY2016


This includes our most recent report as of FY2016

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.