New survey reveals college diversity, inclusion efforts fail miserably
A new survey has found that a majority of college students believe discrimination against LGBTQ students occurs at high levels on campus.
According to a survey produced by College Pulse, an analytics company, 64 percent of students say there is “a lot” or “some” discrimination against LGBTQ students on their respective campuses with 36 percent saying discrimination occurs “very little” or not at all.
The survey also noted that those identifying as LGBTQ are “far more likely” to say there is “a lot” or some discrimination against the identity group compared to straight students.
Perceptions of discrimination against these groups are at high levels, according to this survey, despite colleges pouring millions of dollars in funding annually into diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Campus Reform has reported on the millions of dollars individual colleges spend in diversity efforts each year.
Rutgers University faculty protested in 2018 to increase the institution’s $20 million diversity budget. American University announced in February that a total of $61 million was to be funneled into diversity efforts in 2019 and the University of Michigan is spending $10.6 million on its 82 diversity officers in 2019 alone.
College Pulse’s “Student Discrimination” survey asked 12,300 students from more than 800 four-year institutions across the country about their perception of the climate on campus. The survey asked respondents a variety of questions about gender and sexuality discrimination, as well as racial discrimination on campus, including how much discrimination they believe occurs against black, Hispanic, Asian, and international students, as well as male and female students.
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Gender/Sexuality Discrimination
The results found that 22 percent of student respondents believed that gay and lesbian students experienced discrimination “a lot” or “quite a bit” while 42 percent believe discrimination occurs “some” and 36 percent found “very little” or no discrimination.
When asked about discrimination against genderqueer students, that is, those identifying as neither or both genders, 32 percent of students indicated that “a lot” or “quite a bit” of discrimination occurs. Thirty-nine percent believe “some” discrimination occurs with 28 percent noting that “very little” or no discrimination occurs.
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Racial Discrimination
Regarding discrimination against black students, seven percent of respondents viewed “a lot” and 17 percent noted “quite a bit.” Thirty-eight percent believe “some” instances of discrimination occur with 37 percent claiming “very little” or no discrimination on their campuses.
Hispanic students experience “a lot” of discrimination, according to five percent of respondents, and 12 percent experience “quite a bit.” While 39 percent of respondents note “some” discrimination, 44 percent reported “very little” or no discrimination against Hispanic students on their respective campuses.
Four percent reported “a lot” of discrimination against Asian students with ten percent noting “quite a bit” on campus. Thirty-four percent reported “some” instances of discrimination and 51 percent noted “very little” or no discrimination.
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Male and Female Discrimination
According to the responses on female student discrimination, 39 percent noted “some” discrimination, 16 percent responded “quite a bit,” and five percent viewed “a lot” with the remaining 40 percent stating there is “very little” or no discrimination against female students.
Twenty-two percent of respondents noted “some” discrimination, six percent viewed “quite a bit,” and three percent noted “a lot” of discrimination against males with 69 percent stating “very little” or no male discrimination on campus.
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