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CU-BOULDER CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY: FALL 2001

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT)

In order to ensure that our sample included sufficient representation from gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) students, we made a special effort to recruit GLBT students from various GLBT courses and committees. Of the 57 GLBT students responding to the survey, 31 were recruited from classes and were not part of the random sample; the remaining 26 were part of the random sample.

Random versus Non-Random Survey Selection

Because more than half of the GLBT students included among the survey respondents were not randomly-selected to participate, we conducted an analysis of how their responses differ from the GLBT students selected using random sampling. These analyses confirm that students recruited from GLBT courses and committees view the campus quite differently from those randomly selected to participate in the survey. Specifically, as compared to the random sample, recruited GLBT students:

• Are less satisfied overall with CU-Boulder
• Say they are more likely to hear disparaging remarks:
  • from students targeted at women, ethnic minorities, religious, and foreign students
  • from faculty targeted at women, religious, GLBT, white, and foreign students
• Rate the environment as more hostile:
  • find the classroom to be more sexist, racist, and less accessible
  • find outside the classroom to be more sexist, disrespectful, racist, homophobic; less accessible, civil, and accepting of diversity.
  • report seeing more negative graffiti on campus
• Are less likely to think student government, students, and the Boulder community value diversity; are more likely to think diversity should be a high priority.
• Have more contact with GLBT students and are more comfortable participating in campus ethnic activities and getting counseling, but less comfortable on the Hill

Recruited GLBT students are also more likely to list their sexual orientation as their most important group identity in terms of how they are treated on campus. Nearly one-third (29%) of recruited GLBT students listed sexual orientation as their most important group identity, while only 19% of the random sample of GLBT students did so.

Because analyses verified that the climate is reported differently by the randomly-sampled versus the recruited GLBT students, we kept these groups separate for analysis purposes. Both groups are contrasted with non-GLBT students.

Highlights

The GLBT students' reports of the CU-Boulder campus climate are not overly negative; nonetheless, in many cases, they are not particularly positive either. For the most part, responses from the recruited (non-randomly selected) GLBT students are more negative than responses from the GLBT students included in the random sample and from the non-GLBT students. However, in a few areas, both groups of GLBT students look more similar to one another than to the non-GLBT students.

Perhaps most striking is the extent to which all GLBT students say they are willing and likely to challenge derogatory remarks or behavior. GLBT students are significantly more likely than the non-GLBT students to challenge disparaging comments or behavior directed at all the groups concerned, not just those based on sexual orientation.

Both recruited and randomly-selected GLBT students rate the campus as somewhat less friendly and welcoming as compared to the non-GLBT students. GLBT students report feeling "different" at a rather high rate; half (50%) of the randomly-selected GLBT students and nearly two-thirds (65%) of the recruited GLBT students say they "often" or "very often" feel different. In comparison, only about one-quarter (28%) of the non-GLBT students report feeling different this frequently.

Most other indicators of campus hospitality are rated lower by recruited GLBT students than by randomly-selected GLBT and non-GLBT students. For example, recruited GLBT students feel disconnected, left out, and physically threatened more often than the other two groups of students. Recruited GLBT students are also less comfortable than the other students using the rec center or hanging out on the Hill. On the other hand, they report higher levels of comfort with getting counseling and support and with participating in campus ethnic/cultural activities.

As is the case for other students, overall, both groups of GLBT students report hearing few disparaging comments from faculty. All students rate the faculty quite high in valuing diversity. Having said that, recruited GLBT students do report hearing significantly more disparaging remarks from faculty about their group, women, and students with strong religious beliefs than non-GLBT students report hearing.

Unfortunately, disparaging remarks made by other students are less rare than those made by faculty. Over half (53%) of the recruited GLBT students say they "often" or "constantly" hear students make disparaging remarks targeted at the GLBT population. They also report hearing other students make disparaging remarks targeted at women, people with strong religious beliefs, and ethnic/racial minorities. Fewer, but still a substantial percentage (38%) of randomly-selected GLBT students report "often" or "constantly" hearing disparaging remarks from students targeted at the GLBT population. Otherwise, they report fairly low frequency of disparaging remarks, and generally look more like the non-GLBT students.

Given the low frequency of disparaging remarks from faculty, it is not surprising that all students indicate having significantly more negative experiences outside than inside of the classroom. Specifically, both the GLBT and non-GLBT students' perceptions of sexism, disrespect, incivility, racism, and homophobia are significantly greater outside versus inside the classroom. Further, these experiences are more pronounced for recruited GLBT students. Recruited GLBT students are more likely to see the classroom as sexist, racist, and homophobic; their ratings on these dimensions outside the classroom are even more negative. While randomly-selected GLBT students also report somewhat negative views of the classroom and outside environment, their ratings are generally somewhat more favorable than the recruited GLBT students.

As stated earlier, the recruited GLBT students are more likely than the randomly-selected GLBT students to list sexual orientation as their most important group membership. While sexual orientation is the most frequently-listed group identity for recruited GLBT students (29%), it is second to race/ethnicity for the randomly-selected GLBT students (23% race/ethnicity versus 19% sexual orientation). The recruited GLBT students are also more likely than other students to list gender (females only) as their most important group identity. Nearly one-third of the recruited GLBT women said "gender" or "feminist," while only 10% of the randomly-selected GLBT women listed gender; in comparison, 12% of the non-GLBT women said gender was their most important group identity while on campus.

Graph of scale scores by GLBT status

Campus Climate Survey 2001 Table of Contents

l:\ir\survey\climate\climate01\report\summarydraft-byglbt.doc last updated 6/13/02

Last revision 07/24/07