Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 53.85
Liaison Stephen Ellis
Submission Date Oct. 7, 2021

STARS v2.2

Boston University
PA-6: 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 29,128 BU students in March 2019. 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 employees and students, including the experiences of underrepresented groups?:
Yes

Does the assessment process address student outcomes related to diversity, equity and success?:
No

Does the assessment process address employee outcomes related to diversity and equity?:
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 3,903 students responded to the survey, a 13.4% participation rate.
- 22.23% said they had witnessed inappropriate behavior that they believed made others feel uncomfortable or offended; of those, 67.4% took some sort of action in response (including intervening, interrupting, confronting, expressing concern, or seeking help from someone else).
- 22.0% reported that they feel ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ connected to the campus community. Undergraduate women (30.3%) and men (24.0%) were more likely to report feeling ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ connected than graduate/professional women (11.7%) and men (17.7%).
- The results suggest that students are generally aware of services and resources provided by BU, including Student Health Services (89.4%), the BU Police Department (84.9%), and the Sexual Assault Response & Prevention Center (SARP) (79.3%). Just 4.7% reported they were not aware of any services or resources provided by BU or the local community. 50.2% of responding students reported they were ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ knowledgeable about where to get help at the University if they or a friend were victims of sexual assault or misconduct, and 43.2% reported they were ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ knowledgeable about how BU defines sexual assault and other misconduct.
- The data provided in this report are new, and further analysis is needed. As anticipated, the survey results demonstrate several areas where Boston University has room for improvement, while also identifying some areas where we’ve made tangible progress. Over the coming weeks, we will be working to further analyze the data and their implications, and coordinate with colleagues across the University to determine appropriate next steps.

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 (upload):
Website URL where the diversity and equity assessment report or summary is publicly posted:

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s diversity and equity assessment efforts is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This represents FY2020 BU Metrics.

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.