1. What is the racial climate at ISU?
2. Does the racial climate prevent some students of color from coming to ISU?
3. Does the racial climate prevent some students of color from persisting or graduating at ISU?
4. Are students appreciating and benefiting from the racial diversity on ISU’s campus?

The survey research team, in close consultation with Jack Dovidio, a nationally recognized scholar on issues of race and prejudice, developed and a theoretically grounded research project and then administered surveys to ISU faculty, staff, and students. (Staff refers to full-time professional and support staff as well as administrators.) The responses on the surveys were analyzed and are reported in a full technical report under the title of A Survey of the Racial Climate at Indiana State University: The Technical Report, which is available from the Office of Institutional Research and Testing. A detailed synopsis of the findings is reported here.

THE RESPONDENT POOL
Slightly different survey instruments were developed for faculty, staff, and administrators. In all, surveys were sent to 3,180 students, 564 faculty, and 1,137 staff during March/April of 1996. The sample statistics are provided in Table 1. In order to ensure large sample sizes, all African American and international students were sent surveys, as were a random sample of 1500 white American students. Faculty and staff were sent surveys in campus mail and had very high response rates. Students were sent surveys via campus and regular mail. Although their rates are not as high as faculty and staff, they are relatively high for a mail survey. Overall, the respondent pool was found to be representative of the general population, although the percentage of females and graduate students were slightly higher than found in the overall population.

WHAT IS THE RACIAL CLIMATE AT ISU?
After researching the literature, the Climate Study Committee defined racial climate as, “the perceptions of ISU’s faculty, students, support staff, professional staff, and administrators toward (1) various aspects of ISU’s campus, and (2) racial issues.” The surveys were designed to examine these areas in order to provide an answer to the question posed above. Perceptions of students, faculty and staff toward the academic, administrative, social, and physical environment were examined, as were perceptions toward issues of race and experiences with discrimination. The results of this analysis indicate that, in almost every area, African Americans perceive a different and more negative environment at ISU than their white American counterparts. A brief summary of the detailed study is provided below.

Perceptions toward the Environment

Satisfaction with Social Ties African American and white American students have different social experiences at ISU, which may explain why only 53.4% of African Americans agreed that they felt part of the ISU community (compared to 69.9% of white American students). Among the questions on social relationships where statistically significant differences were found:

Only 49.6% of African Americans were satisfied with their social relationships, compared to 74.9 % of white Americans.

27.0% of African Americans reported having closer friends in college than they did in high school compared to 34.9% of white Americans.

Only 54% of African Americans would recommend ISU to another student, compared to 74.9% of white Americans.

Satisfaction with Academics Overall, students were satisfied with their classroom experiences and faculty; however, the evidence reveals that this is not the case when race is considered. Differences in African American and white American perceptions are found in the classroom setting. Table 2 illustrates that significant differences were found on most of the questions listed, and that less than 2/3 of African Americans were satisfied with any area of the academic environment.

Perceptions Toward Issues of Race The questionnaires contained several questions that attempted to determine attitudes of students, staff, and faculty toward different racial groups, as well as the comfort levels of racial groups with each other within the ISU community. The conclusions that can be reached from these questions are that African Americans are less accepted by the institution than are white American students and that some discomfort exists when different groups interact. However, the results also indicate that ISU is providing an opportunity for many students to interact with different cultures for the first time, and that many students appear to be benefiting from this experience. Acceptance
All respondents were asked to rate the perceived attitudes of students toward non-minority, minority, and international students on a scale of 1 (very accepting) to 5 (very rejecting). The results indicate that African American students do not feel they are accepted by other students. Consider that:

The mean scores on the question “How do you rate the perceived attitude of students toward minority students” were 3.02 (between rejecting and neutral) for African Americans compared to 2.44 for white American students.

The survey respondents were also asked to register their comfort levels with different racial groups. The results of these questions indicate that, on average, white American students felt least secure (although all mean scores indicated they are comfortable) with black students than any other group (see Table 4). Similarly, African Americans indicated they were least comfortable with white students than any other racial group listed. The discomfort is not only occurring within the student ranks, but white faculty (with a mean of 1.98) and white staff (mean = 2.15) also gave the least secure scores, on average, to African Americans when asked how they felt with different groups. However, it should be noted that their comfort levels with all student groups were considerably higher than those of students, and the mean scores indicated a relatively high level of security with all groups.

ISU Provides an Opportunity
Finally, questions about interactions toward race indicate that ISU provides many students with their first opportunities to interact with people from different racial backgrounds. Almost half (46.2%) of white Americans indicated they had no or rare contact with people of different racial or national backgrounds before coming to ISU. However, only 12.9% report no or rare contact since coming to campus. ISU is presenting an opportunity for African Americans as well. Less than two thirds of African Americans (58.8%) reported they had contact often or very often with people of different backgrounds before arriving at ISU. However, 71.3% indicate they now have contact often or very often. Finally, students indicated that they might like more opportunities to learn about other cultures. Just over half (56.0%) of white Americans indicate they are satisfied with opportunities to learn about different cultures. Less than half (45.1%) of African Americans indicate satisfaction with the same opportunities.

EXPERIENCES WITH DISCRIMINATION
African American students’ reports of first-hand discrimination revealed that more overt and direct forms of discrimination did not occur often or very often. Over 80.7% of African Americans reported they had never been sent insulting calls or letters, and 92.5% indicated they had never been physically threatened (see Table 5). Yet, these statistics belie the fact that overt discrimination is occuring. Over 7% of African Americans reported they were physically threatened and almost 20% reported receiving threatening phone calls or letters during the past year because of their race or national origin. Other forms of discrimination were also reported by African American students. Over 50% indicated they had been called names or insulted, and over 60% have seen or heard racial jokes, cartoons, or graffiti at least once or twice in the past year. Almost half (48.5%) indicated they had been put down intellectually over the past year due to their race or national origin.

The results suggest that African Americans are experiencing discrimination in the classroom as well. Over 40% of African American students indicated they had been in at least one class where students had treated another student negatively because of race or national origin in the past year. Almost 40% of African American respondents indicated they had been in a classroom where a student was embarrassed by another student due to race or national origin during the past year. Even more concerning is the finding that over 40% of African Americans report that they have been in classrooms where faculty have either treated a student negatively or embarrassed a student because of race and national origin.

The fact that African Americans have consistently more negative perceptions toward all aspects of the ISU community, and that 40% reported to have witnessed discriminatory acts that were based on race and national origin indicates that the racial climate at ISU is “chilly.”

IS THE CLIMATE AFFECTING RECRUITMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS?
This question could not be directly addressed. However, current students were asked whether they would recommend the institution to potential students. Their answers were examined to determine what might be affecting whether students are willing to recommend the institution to other students. A review of the literature indicates that student success is based on a variety of factors including; social and academic integration, demographics, college preparation, perceptions of their environment, etc. Variables representing these aspects were examined to determine their impact on the decision to recommend ISU to a potential student. Correlations, regressions, and mediational analysis were performed to assess the impact of these variables.

The research revealed that African Americans are more likely than white American students to not recommend ISU to potential students. Zero-order correlations indicate that feeling part of the ISU community, quality of teaching, local community, university administration, and social relationships affect both types of students (see Table 6). However, reported experiences of discrimination were found to have a negative impact on recommending ISU for African American students. In the regression analyses, quality of teaching, feeling part of the ISU community, university administration, and social relationships with students helped predict whether white Americans would recommend the institution. However, the only factors affecting African Americans were whether they felt part of the ISU community and how they felt about the university administration.

Mediational analyses revealed that feeling part of the ISU community plays a large and mediational role in recommending the school to potential students. In laymen’s terms, race and discrimination do impact recommending ISU, but they do so through impacting feeling part of the ISU community. The factors impacting feeling part of the ISU community are listed in Table 7. Two findings that affect this study are that African Americans feel less a part of the ISU community than white Americans, and the perception of personal discrimination and classroom discrimination have a significant impact on whether African Americans feel part of the ISU community.

IS THE CLIMATE AFFECTING THE RETENTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS?
The answer to this question was not as clear as that addressing how climate was impacting recruitment. No difference was found in intent to graduate between the two groups (close to 90% of both African and white American students indicated they intended to graduate from ISU). Although personal discrimination experience and classroom discrimination were correlated with intending to graduate, the regression model was not significant and no variables were found to have a significant impact on whether a student recommends ISU.

ARE STUDENTS BENEFITING FROM DIVERSITY ON ISU’S CAMPUS?
ISU presents many students with their first substantive interactions with people from different cultures and racial backgrounds. Only 32.6% of white American students indicated they had come into contact often or very often with a person from a different ethnic or racial background before coming to ISU. However, 66.6% indicate they have come into contact with people of different backgrounds since arriving at the university. The percentage of African Americans also increased from 59.3% having contact often or very often before coming to ISU to almost 71% coming into frequent contact while at the institution. In addition, a vast majority of African American (70.7%) and white American (67.1%) students indicate that they often engage in a conversation with a student from a race or ethnic group different from their own. Finally, many of the students indicate that they are not satisfied with their opportunities to learn about different cultures, suggesting that many students are aware of differences and anxious to learn more about them.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND NEXT STEPS
The purpose of the climate studies is to inform the ISU community about the racial and national origin climate at ISU, as well as to stimulate dialogue over what may be done to address some of the issues raised by the research. Given the findings of these studies, we commend the university for its foresight in making cultural diversity a central part of ISU’s Strategic Plan for the 21st Century, and we encourage the continuation and evaluation of the many existing diversity initiatives. In the course of analyzing the data, the researchers also discussed some possible steps that might lead to a “warmer climate”. We forward these ideas only in the interests of stimulating dialogue.

*Facilitate the development of an intellectual community among students, faculty, and administrators outside of the classroom. Students need to be more academically and socially integrated into the community. Some suggested examples are joint events and increased support for undergraduate research or T.A.’s. But, the focus of these efforts should be on ensuring that minority and international students are represented and integrated into the intellectual community.

*Facilitate and enhance inter-racial and intercultural integration among students. Students should be made aware of these issues early in their academic careers at ISU, either through first year orientation activities or pedagogical initiatives, such as cooperative learning.

*Expand faculty and staff development programs. Review and ensure that racial and national origin issues are a part of the Teaching and Learning Center programs and activities, as well as staff development programs.

*Sensitize faculty and staff to unintentional or subtle bias involving minority and international students. Much of the data indicate that faculty believe in a “warm” campus climate and they want to work to create such a climate.

*Make elimination of racial/ethnic graffiti and cartoons a high priority and make sanctions clear to students, faculty, & Staff. The data indicate that this is one of the most prominent forms of discrimination, and one that needs to be addressed.

*Explore ways of dedicating attractive living spaces to multi-cultural themes to promote intergroup contact. Given that ISU is the first introduction to other cultures for 4 out of 10 white American students, a more visible display of themes may help students realize there is a world beyond their immediate environment.

*Create structures of giving minority and international students direct and regular access to senior administrators. The perceptions of how the university is administered were not very satisfactory. In the case of African Americans, perceptions of the administration of ISU were linked to recommending ISU to other students. This indicates the need for much better communication.

*Review policies for reporting incidents of discrimination. The percentages of students who indicated they witnessed acts of discrimination and the number of incidents reported to faculty indicate that many acts are going unreported within the institution.

*Provide incentives to departments for recruitment and retention of minority faculty.