DePauw University
PAE-7: Measuring Campus Diversity Culture

In 2007-08 DePauw’s Diversity Task Force created a series of Campus Climate Surveys. Three separate surveys were distributed electronically to current students, former employees, and alumni. As defined in the survey, “Campus Climate refers to current attitudes, behaviors, and standards of employees and students concerning the access for, inclusion of and level of respect for individual and group needs, abilities, and potential.” The major sections of each survey covered (1) Campus Experiences, (2) DePauw University Actions Relative to Climate Issues, (3) Demographic Information, (4) How to Improve the Campus Climate, (5) Experiences as a Member of the DePauw University Community, and (6) Additional Open-ended Comments. In 2009-10 DePauw created a Gender and Families Task Force to further look at the issue of families and gender equality on campus. As part of the task force a survey for faculty members and a survey for staff members was created and distributed electronically. The primary areas covered in each survey included (1) Demographic Information, (2) Work-life Balance, (3) Division of Childcare Duties, (4) University Support for Family and Childcare Issues, (5) Satisfaction with Current Family and Childcare Policies, and (6) Areas to Improve and Additional Comment.

The 2007-2008 Diversity Task Force survey was used to create a Presidential Report with recommendations and plans for improvement of diversity at DePauw. The report was then made public and is available online. The 2009-2010 Gender and Families Task Force survey produced a report to the President with recommendations for improving policies and the work environment. The President has assigned appropriate sectors of the administration the task of addressing and improving upon specific recommendations. All task force recommendations and their proposed improvements to policy and environment issues are due to the President in May 2011.