University of Wisconsin-River Falls
PA-5: Assessing Diversity and Equity

In February 2017, UW-River Falls conducted a brief survey of 2,000 randomly selected students and all 780 campus employees to gather input on the degree to which they have experienced a variety of discriminatory practices based on various identity categories such as gender, sexual orientation, race, age, job classification, and political views. The goal was to assess the perceptions of our campus environment for learning, living, and working, and to better understand these individuals’ satisfaction with the UWRF experience. In line with our commitment to addressing the needs of our campus, a set of priority actions has been developed in consultation with university leadership and shared governance.

For both students and employees, bias or hostility based on political beliefs is one of the more significant climate concerns at UW-River Falls, though the nature of the bias or hostility is somewhat different in the two groups. Students seem to be concerned about the political leanings of their professors, a sentiment shared by some employees. Another group of employees, however, view the political hostility in terms of the treatment our campus receives from our elected officials. Both groups also identified bias based on gender to be a significant concern. Neither students nor employees are likely to have reported their encounters with bias and only about half appear to know how or to whom to make such a report. Large majorities of both students and faculty are satisfied or very satisfied with all dimensions of climate on campus and with their interactions with the community. There are, however, segments of both populations who are sufficiently dissatisfied with climate to be considering leaving the university. Employees expressed concern about the climate on campus in terms of mutual respect across employment categories. Student comments indicated some dissatisfaction with their fellow students, in terms of campus climate. Results: A list of 5 themes have been identified as action areas to pursue in response to the climate survey. The thematic areas of focus were defined by the working group which helped create the survey tool and additional input was provided at the Aug. 29, 2017, Campus Leadership Workshop. The final action areas were refined by the Chancellor’s Cabinet on Oct. 16, 2017. In demonstration of the importance of addressing these issues, $25,000 in one-time institutional funding was allocated in Round 2 of the Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Budget Process to support the implementation of these actions.

All information and reports from the climate survey are available for the campus community online. https://www.uwrf.edu/Diversity/Campus-Climate-Survey.cfm The reports have also been shared via email and the campus newsletter.