Ability to express political views and employee engagement emerge as concerns in Pa. state university system climate survey

The majority of students of color who responded this year to a survey by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education reported they are treated with respect on campus and do not face discrimination or bias.

And students and faculty — of any race or ethnicity — overwhelmingly feel safe on their campuses, though there was disagreement over whether campus police should be armed.

But the results of the 2022 survey, administered by the system to improve conditions on its 10 campuses, weren’t quite as encouraging in other areas, system officials said.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania state university system launches first diversity survey

Fewer students and faculty feel comfortable discussing their political views on campus. And employees are not as engaged with their schools as the system officials would like; only one-third of faculty showed they were engaged, one of the lowest responses, according to the system report on findings.

Those were some of the results of a 2022 survey released by the system during Thursday’s board of trustees meeting. The results with detailed responses to each question, yielding hundreds of data points, have been posted on the system’s website.

System Chancellor Daniel Greenstein said there’s work to do across the board.

“We did this because this is really important,” he said. “Some of these results are going to be uncomfortable, and they are going to force uncomfortable conversations, but we need to have them. This is the state of our universities and our systems, and it’s in some ways a sobering reflection on the state of American society.”

Also, at the meeting, the board voted to seek a 3.8% or $21 million increase in its general state appropriation for 2023-24 to cope with inflation and to freeze undergraduate tuition for a fifth year. In addition, it will ask for another $112 million, the vast majority for student financial aid, to enroll more students in areas with shortages, such as teaching and health care, and ensure they graduate.

More than 13,000 students, faculty and staff responded to the survey, only a fraction of the more than 70,000 students and more than 10,000 employees who received emails. (Only 11.7% of students responded.)

There were more than 4,200 comments on the surveys, too, but those were not made public.

The survey gauged opinions on a variety of topics, including political and religious views, campus diversity, discrimination, bias and harassment, campus safety, student outreach, campus experience and engagement. Those who responded were invited to identify by race, gender identity, military service, country of origin, and physical or other disability.

Each of the 10 Pennsylvania universities will receive results for their campus and be asked to drill down and make improvements, Greenstein said. Administrators said given the large amount of information, it will take time for both the system and the universities to fully understand the results. On politics, for example, respondents were asked if they were far left, left, center, right or far right, and results can be viewed for each group, Greenstein said.

“My biggest concern is that ... there is so much information and so much good work to do,” Greenstein said, “it’s going to be really important for universities to determine how and where they want to focus.”

The survey was among steps taken by the system to better the climate on its campuses, particularly for students of color, who had been speaking out about racism. An August 2020 Spotlight PA investigation found the system had recruited more students of color for its campuses but had failed to support them. While the system’s percentage of students of color had nearly doubled since 2008, their graduation rate was nearly 20 percentage points lower than that of white students, the investigation found.

In a state where about 14% of 18- to 24-year-olds are Black, 9.8% of the system’s students, or 9,253, are Black. An additional 5,872 students, or 6.2%, are Hispanic. The Hispanic share of 18- to 24-year-olds statewide is nearly 11%.

In the survey, two-thirds of students of color said they strongly agreed or agreed that they do not regularly experience racial discrimination or racial hostility on campus. Still, nearly 15% said they disagreed with that, while 18% were neutral. The findings weren’t quite as positive when students were asked the same question about their surrounding communities. Nearly one-fifth indicated they did regularly experience racial discrimination and bias there, while 58% did not, and the rest were neutral.

Asked if they felt welcome on campus, nearly 66% agreed, while 12% disagreed and 22% were neutral.

The majority also said they felt they were treated with respect on campus and respected by faculty, administrators and other students. For example, 71% strongly agreed or agreed they were treated with respect by other students, while 6.9% disagreed. For administrators, 75% agreed, and less than 5% disagreed. And for faculty, 78% agreed and 6% disagreed.

Nearly 30% of faculty of color said they don’t feel comfortable in their surrounding communities. When the same question was asked about the campus and about their fellow faculty members, about 20% said they don’t feel comfortable. The system’s campuses are largely located in rural and suburban areas.

Also, one-quarter of faculty of color said they don’t feel supported in their professional development and working toward tenure, which could be problematic for a system trying to recruit a more diverse staff.

On political views, only half the students agreed or strongly agreed that they felt comfortable expressing their political views on campus, less than that in their surrounding communities. Just over half felt that faculty and administrators respected their political views. Less than half thought that their views were respected by other students. But significant percentages also indicated they were neutral on the topic.

Other findings include: