Diversity and inclusion have gained attention as important considerations in a number of spheres, including higher education. How do Sewanee students think about and understand diversity, inclusion, campus culture, and other... [ view full abstract ]
Diversity and inclusion have gained attention as important considerations in a number of spheres, including higher education. How do Sewanee students think about and understand diversity, inclusion, campus culture, and other students’ personal identities, and does this vary with other aspects of a student’s own experiences? To begin to explore these questions, we invited students to share their thoughts via an anonymous online survey platform. The survey consisted of five primary sections, each with a different focus. 195 Sewanee students participated in the current survey; the sample demographics were relatively reflective of Sewanee’s population, with the exception of gender, as participants were disproportionately female. The survey included a range of question types, including open-ended response and Likert-type scale responses.
Close analysis of responses to the open-ended questions about definitions of “diversity” and “inclusion” gave us a sense of how students conceptualize these issues. Furthermore, students further along in their time at Sewanee were more likely to disagree with the idea that Sewanee is an inclusive, engaging, and supportive community for students of minority backgrounds, which may reflect the development of a more nuanced understanding of diversity and inclusion with time and experience. In addition, two-thirds of students agreed with a statement that said that the university’s diversity statement is “only taken seriously by minority students”. Building on this, the participants who identified with more diverse groups were also less likely to believe that Sewanee is a diverse community overall. The final open-ended responses, which allowed students to offer feedback or suggestions to approach diversity and inclusion on campus, were also analyzed for common themes, which included (but were not limited to) ideas about conversation, change, the Greek life system, and different admissions tactics. It is also worth noting that participants seemed quite interested in engaging with these issues; even having already responded to a fairly lengthy set of questions, a number of participants gave fairly lengthy and thoughtful responses to the final open-ended questions. The extensive data set from this descriptive study offers the opportunity to further explore a number of other aspects of students’ thoughts on diversity and inclusion.
