Graduate and Professional Student Council President Johnathan Flowers presented the results of a survey about diversity and inclusivity at the council’s regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. 

According to the results, 72 percent of all students felt faculty makes them feel included.

Approximately 2,000 members of the campus community were surveyed, including 800 faculty members. About 1,300 participants were white, Flowers said.

Of the student responses, 25 percent were from graduate or professional students.

Flowers said though the survey itself was not very large, it was larger than other similar surveys conducted at SIU. 

When broken down by race, 53 percent of African American students, 68 percent of Hispanic and Latino students and 68 percent of Asian or Pacific Islander students feel included by faculty, Flowers said.

Asked if they felt valued by faculty members, 68 percent of all students said they do, while just 49 percent of African American students said they do.

Of the Hispanic, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander students who responded to the survey, 61 percent feel valued by faculty.

One question asked respondents if they think faculty members show that diversity is important to them through their actions. Generally, 62 percent of all students agreed that this is true, while 47 percent of African American students agreed.

“There’s a slight disparity there,” Flowers said.

According to the survey, 55 percent of all students feel included by administrators, compared to the 37 percent of African American students who feel included by administrators.

Asked if they feel valued by university administration, 53 percent of all students said they do, while 43 percent of African American students said they feel valued. 

“The data indicates that there is a problem between the interaction of administrators and African American students, but there is also problem between administrators and students in general,” Flowers said.

Flowers also presented the survey’s results relating to student interactions with one another.

According to the survey, 53 percent of African American students feel safe around other students and 43 percent of African American students feel like other students make them feel included.

Since GPSC is a student representative body, Flowers said they have a responsibility to address the statistics.

According to the study, 29 percent of African American faculty feel diversity is actively promoted at the university, while 93 percent think diversity should be promoted.

Flowers said the university’s Diversity Council used the survey data to create specific mechanisms to address the issues. Because it was conducted in spring 2017 and no similar survey has been conducted since, these results are the council’s baseline.

“Surveys going forward will use this … to determine whether things have changed,” Flowers said.

When presented the council’s data, Flowers said Montemagno questioned the accuracy of the data and its relevance to making policies.

Staff writer Amelia Blakely can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @AmeilaBlakely. 

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