University of San Diego
PA-5: Assessing Diversity and Equity

In the last three years we have participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), The Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) survey, and the Culturally Engaged Campus Environments (CECE) survey. From the NSSE and DLE surveys, data on LGBTQ identities was distilled for deeper analysis of how this specific community experiences USD’s campus. NSSE annually collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about first-year and senior students' participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. The results provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college. The Diverse Learning Environments Survey (DLE) captures student perceptions regarding the institutional climate, campus practices as experienced with faculty, staff, and peers, and student learning outcomes. Diverse student populations are at the center of the survey, and the instrument is based on studies of diverse student bodies and the complexity of issues that range from student mobility to intergroup relations. The CECE model acknowledges that external influences (e.g., financial factors, employment, and family influences) and precollege inputs (e.g., academic preparation and academic dispositions at the time of entry) shape college success (e.g., learning, satisfaction, persistence, and degree completion). However, the focal point of the CECE model emphasizes that college students’ access to culturally engaging campus environments is positively correlated with individual influences (e.g., sense of belonging, academic self-efficacy, motivation, expectation or intent to persist, and performance) on success and an increased probability of succeeding in college. The CECE model posits that undergraduates’ access to culturally engaging campus environments is directly and indirectly (via sense of belonging, academic self-efficacy, motivation, expectation or intent to persist, and performance) related to a greater likelihood of persistence.

Through these studies we have gathered data that leads us to believe that roughly 6% of the USD undergraduate community identifies with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual and that 61% of LGBTQ students believe that USD appreciates differences in sexual orientation compared to 80% of general campus population. Additionally, the data shows that LGBTQ students see themselves as part of this campus community to a greater degree than the general student population (87% and 79% respectively), that LGBTQ students see themselves as belonging on campus less frequently than the general student population (70% and 76% respectively), that LGBTQ students are less likely to agree that the college has a long standing commitment to diversity than the general population at USD (39% and 66% respectively), and that fewer LGBTQ students seldom or never heard insensitive or disparaging remarks from students than the general campus population (26% and 47% respectively). The CID is working on a list of recommendations for policy and action to address the stated needs of LGBTQ students on our campus, which we have presented and on which we have received feedback from students and are preparing to present to The Vice President for Student Affairs, The Provost, and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The CID’s research and results have been shared through formal convening’s with students organizations, campus partners, and other key stakeholders who work closely with LGBTQ students. The greater DLE and NSSE results are available through Institutional Research and Planning (IRP).

http://cece.indiana.edu/model.html http://www.heri.ucla.edu/dleoverview.php http://nsse.indiana.edu/html/about.cfm