University of Michigan
PA-6: Assessing Diversity and Equity

The 2021-22 academic year marked the conclusion of the university’s initial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Five-Year Strategic Plan, known as DEI 1.0. It also marks the beginning of a year-long evaluation process in which central and unit-level content and actions from DEI 1.0 will be thoroughly assessed. Findings from the evaluation period—to be shared in early fall 2022 in conjunction with the annual DEI Summit —will help guide a yearlong planning phase for the university’s next DEI strategic plan, DEI 2.0. This second five-year initiative will launch in October of 2023.
Due to the institution’s decentralized structure and the significant differences in the demographic composition and organizational climate among schools, colleges and units, university leaders chose to embark on a distributed planning process rather than one that was centrally focused. This distributed approach was designed to address the specific challenges and opportunities in local environments across campus, to increase the diversity of those working on the plan, and to promote a sense of collective ownership of the final product.
The plan is centered on the broad goal to advance the ideals of academic excellence and its symbiotic relationship with diversity, equity, and inclusion. The strategic plan outlines goals, new investments, and measures of accountability. The core campus-wide strategies are to: 1) Create an inclusive and equitable campus; 2) Recruit, retain and develop a diverse community; and 3) Support innovative and inclusive scholarship and teaching.
With regard to Strategy 1 of creating an inclusive and equitable campus, campus-wide actions include training to build cultural awareness and inclusiveness skills; enhancing programming for student support and engagement; increasing support for community members experiencing bias; and conducting the first University-wide climate survey. With regard to Strategy 2, campus-wide actions include initiatives to build a diverse pipeline of qualified undergraduate and graduate student candidates; support groups to ensure that students have resources needed to excel on campus; and develop tools to improve hiring and search processes for faculty and staff. With regard to Strategy 3, campus-wide actions include programs to recruit and financially support faculty whose research centers on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion; training on inclusive teaching methods; and the development of processes that value diversity, equity and inclusion-related contributions in faculty evaluations and tenure review. In addition to the campus-wide strategic plan, every school, college and administrative campus unit created its own diversity, equity and inclusion plan to address its unique local needs and opportunities. There are a total of 50 unit-based DEI plans. To view the University level DEI strategic plan, as well as the unit-based plans, please visit, http://diversity.umich.edu/strategic-plan/progress-report/
CATEGORIES OF METRICS FOR CONTINUED TRACKING
Progress on plan action steps and initiatives: Activity toward implementing initiatives; participation rates; action-specific outcomes (e.g. learning outcomes from training, etc.)
Demographic diversity of:
• Undergraduate students - Demographic composition (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex), enrollment status (class level, entry status), 4- and 6-year graduation rates
• Graduate students — Demographic composition (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex), degree level (masters, doctoral, professional)
• Faculty — Demographic composition (e.g., race/ethnicity, sex), tenure status or job family
• Staff — Demographic composition (e.g., race/ ethnicity, sex), generation status (age cohort)
Climate indicators:
• Student, faculty and staff 12-month satisfaction with the overall campus or school/ college or unit climate/environment, depending on constituency
• Student, faculty and staff assessment of aspects of the general climate and DEI climate of overall campus or school/college or unit, depending on constituency
• Student, faculty and staff assessment of institutional commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
• Student, faculty and staff feelings of sense of affirmation and academic or professional growth, depending on constituency
• Student, faculty and staff feelings of discrimination in the prior 12 months
Reporting occurs on multiple levels throughout the university infrastructure, as follows:
• The President and Chief Diversity Officer report to the Board of Regents annually on DEI plan progress. • Deans and administrative leaders report on plan progress during the annual budget process.
• Leaders, faculty and staff report on DEI activity as part of their regular job evaluations.
• DEI commitment and proficiency have been incorporated into the search criteria for university leadership positions.
• DEI plans and annual progress updates will be made public for all units.

The Campuswide Climate Assessments
The study was initially conducted as a scientific sample survey in 2016, followed by a census in 2017. From the sample survey, an overall institution-level report with statistics was generated in early 2018. Using the census data collection, unit-level reports were generated for schools/colleges and departments in 2017-2018 to provide a baseline for their climate near the beginning of a five-year DEI Strategic Plan. U-M has seen substantial efforts and progress during a time of formidable challenges. Chief among those challenges: an unrelenting global pandemic, a racial reckoning expressed through massive protests and violent counter-protests, and the most divisive political climate in recent memory. Closing out the initial five-year plan brings us to a point to revisit the data. The 1st follow-up survey was conducted during the Fall 2021 term among students, staff, special faculty, and faculty. Different from the efforts in 2016-2017, where the sample survey and census efforts were separated by time, in 2021 both the sample and census efforts took place at the same time. The questionnaire and data collection design were implemented with the intent to provide the University and its units a snapshot of where things are at today. This report and the data used to generate it come from the census survey and are being applied at the local unit level. It is the intent of this report to help unit and school/college leaders to report on progress made, while also identifying areas for future DEI growth.

Most recent findings of the latest Climate Survey will not be available until October 2022. However during Year Five of our strategic plan, the dual crises of a global pandemic and nationwide racial unrest cast an unflinching, unforgiving light on the deep-rooted structural inequities of American life. In response, the U-M redoubled its efforts to pursue research, education and societal engagement that advances racial justice and health care equity. In Spring 2021, the university launched several new campuswide initiatives—and enhanced existing programs—to support diversity, equity and inclusion through anti-racism initiatives and through COVID-related policies and services:
1. The onset of COVID-19 generated a vast and complex web of challenges for U-M’s central administration as well as every school and college. Students, faculty and staff were all impacted in many different ways. Of particular concern were the needs of historically marginalized groups. These included people of color, individuals with disabilities, members of our community with compromised immune systems, and economically challenged staff and students.
As a result, all decision-making, at both the central and unit level, gave special consideration to the most vulnerable members of the Ann Arbor campus. During the 2020–21 academic year, as the university shifted primarily to remote and—in some instances—hybrid learning, every effort was made to provide support for diverse groups within our institution.
- Charting the Unknown: Creating a Resilient, Inclusive, Public Health-Informed Plan for Fall 2020 and Beyond
- Campuswide Resources and Support Services
- A Wide Array of Unit-Based Initiatives
2. Throughout 2020–21, U-M advanced a set of anti-racism initiatives that built on the extensive DEI work already underway. These initiatives aim to refocus our collective attention and energy toward building an anti-racist campus culture:
- Creating a task force on policing and public safety for the Ann Arbor campus
- Hiring at least 20 new full-time faculty members in the next three years with scholarly expertise in racial inequality and structural racism
- Expanding resources and infrastructure to support new and current U-M scholars working in the area of anti-racism
- Reevaluating race and ethnicity curriculum requirements across the university’s 19 schools and colleges
- Strengthening faculty and staff professional development opportunities related to anti-racism
- Incorporating ways to address structural racism in the university’s Democracy & Debate Theme Semester
- Creating a task force to develop a community-engaged process for diversifying the names considered for campus spaces, facilities and streets
- Establishing the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship Fund to encourage donor investment in student leaders and to honor the legacy of past leaders in DEI
https://report.dei.umich.edu/new-initiatives/

The university also focused on addressing sexual misconduct by announcing sweeping revisions to how it will address sexual misconduct, including the creation of a new office with significant new resources for support, education and prevention, as well as sharing new details on a process that will include the development of shared community values. The new multidisciplinary unit — the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office — will house many of the critical functions around equity and civil rights work, including Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and forms of discrimination. This will replace and subsume the university’s Office for Institutional Equity. The university also announced policy changes that include prohibiting supervisors from initiating a romantic relationship with anyone they supervise. The changes, announced during the July 15, 2021 Board of Regents meeting, come as the university continues to progress on its commitment to change the culture across all three campuses to one where all members of the university community — students, faculty, staff and visitors — feel safe and supported.

Our progress is documented each year in our annual Progress Report, which is shared with the campus community each fall, as part of U-M’s Diversity Summit including a campuswide community assembly with a keynote speaker, a community update event that highlights segments of the annual DEI report, and numerous school, college and unit events across campus. Additionally, data from the climate survey census efforts are being used to develop unit level reports for the 50 planning units so that they have actionable climate data to draw from as they advance their unit-based DEI plans. Drawing on their unit-specific data, leadership has been encouraged to conduct similar information sharing sessions with their respective communities. Central administration provided numerous resources to aid these sessions.