Williams College
PA-5: Assessing Diversity and Equity

Williams routinely surveys students on issues of campus climate. Themes of interest include student/faculty interaction, academic and social engagement, and having a supportive campus environment. Data from these surveys is analyzed by demographic groups of interest, including race, sex, and sexual orientation (when available) in order to find and understand group differences in these important areas. Interventions, if appropriate, can then be devised.

Williams does quite a bit of this on a regular basis in a variety of forms. We don’t generally make the results of these analyses public, but this type of work goes on regularly in admission, athletics, the Diversity Action Research Team, Office of Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity, the Dean’s Office, etc. We have a set of “Thrive” metrics that we look at annually that cover approximately 10-12 areas where we want to make sure that students of color and first-generation college students are experiencing Williams in the same ways that other students are.

There was a recently completed staff survey. Faculty survey completed 2 years ago, which has resulted in a number of followups. Inclusion of a diversity advocate on all searches and extra targeted recruitment. Development of Teaching in the Diverse Classroom – professional development for faculty members – emerged last year. DART (the Diversity Action Research Team – initiative of the vice president) monitors faculty recruitment and retention and staff recruitment, retention, and development. Helped launch both of the above surveys.