University of Colorado Boulder
PAE-7: Measuring Campus Diversity Culture

The CU-Boulder Campus Climate Survey asks students about their level of comfort on the campus and in the community; whether they feel they fit in and are welcome here; and their experiences with stereotyping and negative remarks and behaviors directed toward others. Samples of 1,581 undergraduate and 415 graduate students were invited to participate in the survey. Students of color and international students were oversampled to allow us to report results for these groups separately. Overall, 29% of sampled students completed the Web-based questionnaire (404 undergraduates, 166 graduates).

Overall, students rate the campus as friendly and welcoming. As in 2001, approximately 80% of both graduate (79%) and undergraduate students (78%) report feeling accepted on campus, and a majority view the campus environment as friendly and welcoming. It’s notable, however, that undergraduate students report higher ratings of connectedness and friendliness regarding the campus environment than do graduate students. For example, three-quarters of undergraduates view the classroom environment as friendly, whereas slightly less than two-thirds (61%) of graduate students do. One-fifth of undergraduates (21%) and slightly over one-quarter of graduate students (29%) report feeling disconnected from academic and social life on campus. Hardly any students (1% of undergraduates) indicate that they feel physically threatened on campus; and few students (8% of undergraduates; 14% of graduate students) report feeling left out.