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CU-BOULDER CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY: FALL 2001

Most Important Group Identity

The climate survey includes the following question:

Everyone is a member of many groups including but not limited to those based on age, race, gender, sexual orientation, physical abilities, socio-economic status, country of origin, major, job, and religion. However, for most people a few group memberships are usually most important.

We realize that this may be a difficult question, but considering all of your group memberships, pick one that's important to you in how you are treated or interact with others when you are on campus.

(Student writes in response)

Students were asked to use the group identity reported to respond to three items:

• Stereotypes encountered based on group identity
• Rate UCB as a place to be for you and members of your group
• Overt prejudice/discrimination encountered because of group identity

Coding open-ended responses into categories:

Students' responses to the open-ended identity question were quite varied. The complete listing of student's responses is available in Excel. In all, 88% of students listed something that we could code. The remaining students either left the item blank or wrote in something that was unclear or off the mark (i.e., "smilers" group or "I have friends"). Click here for coded results.

The most frequently-mentioned category by both undergraduate and graduate students was race/ethnicity; 22% of each group said race/ethnicity or listed a specific ethnic/racial group (e.g., Asian). Note that ethnic minority students were oversampled at both levels, so each group contained a larger proportion of minority students than the population as a whole. The next most frequently reported category was major (reference to a student's major or college, for example engineering, business, art).

Graduate students' responses map to far fewer categories than do undergraduates. Nearly three-quarters of the graduate students were classified into one of four categories: race/ethnicity, major, class level, and foreign student status. Graduate students are much more likely than undergraduates to mention that being at their class level (i.e., a graduate student) is important in how they are treated on campus. Foreign students are overrepresented among graduate students so it is not surprising that they are more likely than undergraduates to mention their foreign status.

Undergraduates' responses are quite varied. After race/ethnicity, the most common categories are major, gender (females only), foreign student, Greek, and religious affiliation. Very few undergraduates mention identities that relate to academic groups, age, sexual orientation, disability status, or student organizations.

Relationship between most important group identity and demographic information:

Group identity for undergraduates was crossed with various demographic characteristics of the respondents. See:

Percent of identity group by various demographics
Findings of note:

• 71% of the students mentioning an academic group as their most important identity are students of color. This is due, in large part, to the predominance of Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) students in the group (9 of the 14 respondents).
• 79% of the students in the "foreign" identity group are listed on the CU student information system as foreign status; 18% are of a minority ethnic or racial status. The most common write-in response for those students who are not foreign but were coded in the "foreign" identity group was "my country of origin." These are likely students who may now be US citizens but hailed from a foreign country at one time and still identify with their foreign status.
• Over half of the students who indicated Greek as an important identity were freshmen. The survey was conducted in the fall semester at a time when new pledges are actively involved in Greek events.

Percent of demographic group in each identity group
Interesting findings of note:

• Males are more likely than females to select their major as their important identity group. This is perhaps explained by the fact that engineering students are more likely to identify with their major and are more likely to be male.
• Asian and African American students are much more likely than Hispanic or American Indian undergraduates to mention race/ethnicity as their most important identity group. While nearly half of Asian (45%) and African American (47%) students mentioned ethnicity, less than one-third of Hispanic and American Indians do so (29% for each). The most frequently listed identity for white undergraduates is major.
• A little over half of the foreign students said their foreign student status is the most important factor in how they are treated on campus; 13% said race/ethnicity and 9% said major.
• 15% of seniors mentioned major as their important identity group compared to only 5% of freshmen. It would appear that major becomes more salient as students move through their academic career.

Climate survey items:

Students were asked to respond to three questions using their most important identity group as a reference. We analyzed responses for undergraduates only because graduate students' responses did not provide enough variety to see identity group differences.

In reviewing results for these items it is important to remember that they reflect perceptions and experiences from students who view membership in the group as important to how they are treated on campus. It should not be assumed that all students who belong to the group feel as these students do. For example, not all Greek members can be assumed to have had experiences identical to the 29 students who said being Greek is important to how they are treated on campus.

Results:

As one might expect, experiences with stereotyping vary according to group membership. In particular, students who listed Greek status as most important believe they are asked to participate in campus activities more than other students; they feel pressure to act like their group, are more often assumed to be rich and prejudiced, and say that faculty expect especially low performance from them.

Students who listed ethnicity as their important identity group also note low performance expectations from faculty. Additionally, they report that other students assume they are poor and that they are often seen by others as a "resident authority" on their racial/ethnic group. Occasionally they are asked what their native language is, but this is much more likely to happen to foreign students at UCB.

Aside from questions related to native language, foreign students report very little incidence of stereotyping; they generally are in the middle of the pack among all groups considered.

Among the other groups, students listing major as their important group identity say faculty expect especially high academic performance from them. This finding probably results from the over-representation of engineering majors in the group, as well as the fact that students for whom academic discipline is their most notable group membership are higher academic achievers (i.e., they have higher cumulative GPAs); thus, the expectation may be deserved.

Students for whom racial/ethnic identity is most salient in how they are treated express a less favorable view of the campus climate. This is particularly true when rating the campus climate for their identity group as a whole or for themselves as members of the group. Students with strong religious identifications also rate UCB somewhat lower than do members of other groups.

Students are more likely to encounter overt prejudice from other students and from the Boulder community than they are from university administrators, faculty, and staff. Students who identify strongly with their Greek status, a religion, or an ethnic/racial category report the most overt prejudice from other students. Students identifying with their Greek status are also particularly likely to report overt prejudice from members of the Boulder community. This finding is not surprising given the community's focus on noise and alcohol issues in the hill residential area where most of the Greek houses are located.

Graphs:
Because of my group identity, stereotyping
Because of my group identity, I encounter overt prejudice from...
Rate UCB as a place to be

Campus Climate Survey 2001 Table of Contents

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

Last revision 07/23/02