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CU-BOULDER CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY: FALL 2001

Foreign Groups

Highlights

The fall 2001 climate survey marks the first time that we have surveyed foreign students in large enough number to characterize them as a group. We are pleased to see that foreign students' experiences at the university and within the Boulder community are quite positive. In fact, they are more positive than those of any of the other ethnic groups.

Foreign students report high levels of comfort in academic and social settings. They are comfortable interacting with faculty, expressing their views in class, and participating in social activities, both on campus and in the Boulder community. They rarely feel disconnected or left out of campus life.

Foreign students seem to feel sufficiently integrated into college social and academic life, as evidenced by the fact that they interact with many different groups of people on campus. As one would expect, they have significantly more contact than other students with non-native English speakers. On the other hand, they report significantly less contact than other students with members of the gay and lesbian community.

Foreign students report hearing fewer derogatory remarks about different groups than do other students. Thus, it is no surprise that foreign students feel that the Boulder community and the various groups within the university value diversity. We are not sure to what extent the results may be due to cultural differences. Many of the foreign students may come from cultures that are not very tolerant of diversity, whereas UCB is relatively open and accepting. In addition, some foreign students may not be sufficiently proficient in English to understand the subtle derogatory remarks that native English speakers might make. Perhaps this language barrier is a contributing factor in foreign students' reluctance to challenge derogatory remarks or behavior directed at various minority groups. Foreign students are by far the least likely to say they will challenge others, perhaps also reflecting cultural differences related to the acceptability of confrontation.

Differences Among Foreign Student Groups

The foreign student groups are based on geographical region and cultural similarity, as judged by staff in the CU-Boulder Office of International Education. The groupings are:

The number of students from the Middle East, Latin America, Former Soviet Block, European Commonwealth, and Africa is too low to allow for reliable and valid analysis of their responses. Therefore, we present results for only the East Asian, European Union, and South and Southeast Asian students. Their responses are contrasted with those of students of US citizenship.

Please note that both undergraduate and graduate students are included in the foreign students summary, whereas only undergraduate students are included in the ethnicity/foreign group status summary. Some results for graduate students, by ethnicity, are provided separately, but are limited by the small number of graduate respondents in some racial/ethnic groups.

Among the groups of foreign students, European Union students seem to be most positive about the CU Boulder campus climate, whereas the East Asian students seem to be least positive. East Asian students are somewhat less comfortable in some social settings; in particular, hanging out at the UMC and looking for a place to rent in Boulder.

The foreign student groups vary most in their perceived comfort in challenging derogatory remarks. East Asian students consistently report being the least comfortable, or among the least comfortable, when faced with the prospect of challenging derogatory remarks. In comparison, US students report that they feel more comfortable challenging such remarks directed at any of the minority groups. When derogatory remarks concern ethnicity and sexual orientation, South and Southeast Asian students also indicate significantly less comfort in challenging them.

All groups report hearing few disparaging remarks from faculty; they say they are quite comfortable being in class and interacting with faculty. Students are much more likely to hear such remarks from other students. Generally, US students report hearing more disparaging remarks from fellow students than do foreign students. In particular, US students report hearing more remarks about the gay community than do both groups of Asian students, more remarks targeted at women than do East Asian students, and more remarks targeted at students with disabilities than do European Union students.

As discussed in the highlights above, many foreign students may not be sufficiently proficient in English to understand subtle derogatory remarks in that language and, therefore, may underestimate the frequency with which such remarks are made in their presence. It should also be noted that 60% of East Asian and 80% of South and South East Asian students are graduate students. Analyses by class level reveal that graduate students, in general, hear fewer derogatory remarks than do undergraduates. English language proficiency, as well as cultural differences, may explain the perceived discomfort among Asian students in thinking about challenging derogatory remarks.

Graph of scale scores by foreign grouping

Campus Climate Survey 2001 Table of Contents

l:\ir\survey\climate\climate01\report\summarydraft-byf_group.doc last updated 6/28/02

Last revision 09/10/03