State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
PA-6: Assessing Diversity and Equity

Campus Climate Surveys were completed in the Spring of 2019 (see attachments below).

Spring 2018 also brought the opportunity to engage in the SUNY Campus Climate Survey. This survey was intended to gather information about the incidence of sexual and interpersonal violence and knowledge of related policies and resources available on campus. This survey did ask some questions about sexual and interpersonal violence -- both an individual's own experiences, and experiences with students who have experienced sexual/interpersonal violence.

Fall 2018 brought the new Bias incident reporting form https://www.esf.edu/ide/bias.htm
ESF's bias reporting system provides ESF students, staff, and faculty with an avenue to report incidents of bias, bigotry, or hate that occur on our campus or in off-campus settings that impact ESF.

Also in 2018-2019, 20 SUNY ESF campus leaders (staff/faculty/administration), completed the USC Race and Equity Institute's eight-week professional learning series that included eight 90-minute virtual modules taught synchronously one day each week. The results of the modules were for projects that served as a baseline assessment of race equity at ESF.
- Professional Development/Training, Professional Development/Training: Race Equity Project - 1
- Resource Management, Resource Management - Race Equity Project – 2
- Climate, Climate Group - Race Equity Project - 3
- Pipelining, Diversifying our College Community through Effective Pipelining - Race Equity Project - 4

Selected by the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Committee, and facilitated by the USC Institute of Race and Equity curriculum modules included:

- Foundations and Racial Equity in Higher Education
- Talking about Race, Racism, and Racial Inequities Advancing Racial Equity in a Mostly White Context
- Reducing Stereotype Threat and Microaggressions in the Classroom
- Inclusive Pedagogy and Classroom Transformation
- Reducing Implicit Bias in the Search and Hiring Process
- Responding to Feedback on Being Perceived as Racist without Becoming Defensive
- Dismantling Persistent Racial Equity Problems in STEM

Four foci (climate, professional development/training, resource management and pipelining) were selected by the CDO to improve and advance racial equity at ESF. As participants collaborated on design tasks between the weekly virtual learning sessions, the College CDO and USC Racial Equity Institute faculty members gave feedback each week on the four teams' design, implementation, accountability, assessment, and resourcing, communication, and sustainability plans.

Under the CDO’s leadership, ESF has undertaken Project Inclusion, an institutional assessment that uses the well-established tool - NERCHE Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education to audit ESF’s success in recognizing inclusion, diversity, and equity as sources of strength. See Project Inclusion: A Conversation with our CDO and OIC: https://video.syr.edu/media/1_lq1w23ib. A guide to the assessment can be viewed here: https://www.wpi.edu/sites/default/files/Project_Inclusion_NERCHE_Rubric-Self-Assessment-2016.pdf

During the March 2018, the College undertook three climate assessments, via the Higher education research Institute (HERI). https://heri.ucla.edu/

Results from the Staff Climate Survey assessed the campus climate from the staff perspective. The survey also touches on staff’s level of stress, satisfaction with their institution, and work-related experiences as staff members in postsecondary institutions. Survey responses in the following categories have informed 2021 legislative asks. The College CDO submitted a proposed legislative priorities to the president based on data from the survey (and others mentioned above).

The CDO submitted the following proposed 2021 legislative priorities to the College President for consideration.

Inclusion, Belonging, Diversity and Equity Among Current and Prospective Leadership:

- Offer implicit bias education for legislators or legislative staff that can support deeper understanding of decisions as related to inclusion, diversity and equity, consulting SUNY CDO’s as sources of knowledge
- Train and educate from legislative seats, to understand, practice, and move toward embodying decision-making that promotes and maintains equitable learning and work space
- Consider bills and resolutions to require or encourage publicly held corporations and public institutions to diversify their boards and employee base.
- Support the SUNY Graduate Diversity Fellowship Program (GDFP).
- Promote state-wide fair search and hire standards to (1) develop a more comprehensive civil service process, and (2) chaperone Civil Service reform, (3) yield increased numbers of people with low-socio economic status, women and racial minority civil servants in the state’s employ (adopt standards that will create an environment of trust)
- Develop a state search waiver policy to maximize access to management confidential employment opportunity among historically absent people (adopt standards that will create an environment of trust)

Inclusion, Belonging, Diversity and Equity Among Historically Oppressed/Absent Communities - Disability

Support EIT throughout SUNY, reinforcing the right to pursue educational opportunities in accessible environments and to have reasonable accommodations so individuals with disabilities can work toward their fullest potential

Inclusion, Belonging, Diversity and Equity Among Historically Oppressed/Absent Communities – Familial Status:

- Increased education, funding, and resources (teaching/research/scholarship) to support and retain parenting scholars (co-market to end users in tandem with the SUNY PRODiG initiative)
- Promote state and local coordination to expand access to high quality pre-school and child care for SUNY employees with families in “care deserts” - providing affordable child-care options for all households, and particularly single parent households
- Realign and publicize policies and programs that mitigate the impact of intersectionality on gender and seek to reverse harms done to women and communities of color, particularly those who also have low-income, identify as LGBTQIA+, or experience additional forms of systemic oppression

As of 2019, the newly created ESF Factbook https://www.esf.edu/assessment/resourcelib.htm as designed by the College's Assistant Director of Assessment and Institutional Research houses the Climate surveys. Other data and results are shared with students and employees in accordance with the Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Marketing Plan which includes outreach to community, students and employees. Other data is publicly available on the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity website. https://www.esf.edu/ide/ “Institutional Data” tab.