Campus Climate Survey, 2006
Off-Campus and On-Campus Places and Organizations Where Students Feel Welcome
Two new open-ended questions on the fall 2006 Campus Climate Survey asked students to list places and/or groups and organizations where they feel especially welcome:
1. You may have specific places or groups OFF-CAMPUS, in the Boulder-Denver area,
where you feel especially welcome and comfortable. Please list UP TO THREE below.
First list the specific name--e.g., First Baptist Church, the CJ softball team--then the
location.
Specific Name: ______Location (city or town): ______
2. If there are places or groups ON-CAMPUS where you also feel especially welcome or
comfortable, please list UP TO THREE below. Please be specific--e.g., the Women's
Center, Cultural Unity Center, Men's Ultimate Frisbee.
______
Off-Campus Places/Organizations -- Location
Overall, almost half (46%) of the 570 survey respondents answered the first question. Two-thirds of the places and organizations listed where respondents felt especially welcome were in the city of Boulder and about one quarter (23%) of the places listed were in the Denver metro area. The remainder of the places most often listed were in the surrounding Boulder/Denver areas, primarily located in towns such as Broomfield, Superior, Louisville, and Lafayette. There were some notable differences across ethnic groups with respect to the two primary locations, Boulder or Denver, that they most often listed.
· Native American students more frequently listed off-campus places or groups that were located in Boulder. Approximately 81% of the off-campus places listed by Native American students were in Boulder, whereas less than half of off-campus places or groups listed by Asian and African American students were in located in Boulder (40% and 41%, respectively).
· Approximately two thirds (65%) of off-campus places or groups listed by Hispanic students were located in Boulder, similar to the proportion of off-campus place locations listed by all students.
· Three quarters or more of places listed by international students (75%), whites (77%), and students with unknown ethnicity (75%) were located in Boulder.
· Asian, African American, and Hispanic students were somewhat more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to list places in Denver where they felt most welcome. Almost half (47%) of the places listed by Asian Americans, 37% of those listed by African Americans, and 30% of those listed by Hispanics were located in the Denver metro area. Only 9-18% of places listed by the other groups where located in Denver: 9% for whites, 16% for students of unknown ethnicity, and 18% for both Native American and international students.
Off-Campus Places/Organizations -- Types
The types of off-campus organizations and groups most often listed by students were churches, coffee houses, home/neighborhoods, restaurants/pubs, sports teams/recreation centers, Pearl Street in Boulder, and shopping venues/stores (Flatirons, Walmart, etc.). It’s possible that some of the places they listed (stores, hospitals, businesses) were places where they held jobs, internships, or volunteer positions. In most cases, however, this could not be determined from their responses.
Ethnic group differences in listings of off-campus places/organizations
For all ethnic groups, churches (or religious groups) were one of the top three types of places students listed when asked to identify an off-campus place where they felt welcome. Respondents from all ethnic groups often listed coffee houses and cafés in similar or equal numbers to churches. Restaurants/pubs and home/neighborhoods were in the top three or four categories mentioned by students from all ethnic groups. There were only a few notable differences across ethnic groups in reported off-campus places and organizations where students feel especially welcome or comfortable:
· African Americans listed churches (n=13 of 42 places listed) much more often than they did coffee houses (n=2). African American students and international students also listed slightly more ethnic organizations as places where they feel particularly welcome (n=5 for both) than did any of the other ethnic groups (n=1 or 2). The top three categories mentioned by African Americans in order of prevalence were: churches, home/living area, and ethnic organizations/groups.
· Asian American students listed more references to home, apartment, or living areas (n=12 of 66 places listed) than they did churches (n=10) or coffee houses (n=10). Students from the other ethnic groups listed two thirds or half as many references to “home” as they did to churches or coffee houses. The top four categories listed by Asian Americans in order of frequency were: home/living area, churches, coffee houses, and shopping/stores.
· Unlike the other ethnic groups, Native American students listed restaurants/pubs more frequently than either churches or coffee houses. The top four categories in order of preference for Native Americans were restaurants, churches, Pearl Street, and home/living areas.
· The list of off-campus places where Hispanic students feel most welcome were fairly equally distributed among the most prevalent top four categories mentioned by all students. Churches (n=10) were mentioned only slightly more often than were home/neighborhoods (n=9), coffee houses (n=8), and restaurants (n=8).
· International students listed churches (n=10) more frequently than any other category, and unlike the other groups listed very few references to coffee houses (n=3). The order of preference for places where they feel most welcome is: churches, home/neighborhoods, ethnic organizations/groups, and restaurants.
· White students were most likely to list churches/religious organizations (n=25), and, similar to the other groups, they also listed coffee houses, restaurants, and home/neighborhoods. However, they also just as frequently listed places and activities having to do with exercise and sports (recreation centers, yoga/karate, sports teams, hiking). The top five categories mentioned in order of preference for this group of students are: churches, coffee houses, sports/exercise, home/neighborhoods, and restaurants.
On-Campus Organizations/Groups
Slightly over half (55%) of the 570 survey respondents answered the second question. The top three places most frequently mentioned by all respondents, in order of prevalence, were the UMC (n=56), Norlin Library (n=51), and the Recreation Center (n= 46). The fourth most frequently mentioned on-campus facility was the Engineering Center/School (n=28). Specific libraries, colleges/schools, and various academic and non-academic centers were also mentioned. These included the Law School, the Physics Department, labs, residence halls, academic departments, the Student Outreach Retention Center for Equity (SORCE), the Women’s Resource Center, and the Center for Multicultural Affairs. Various intramural and club sports groups, Greek houses, and ethnic student organizations were also listed. Among the many ethnic student groups mentioned, the Black Student Alliance (n=11) was the most frequently listed.
Ethnic group differences in listings of on-campus places/organizations
There were few notable differences in the types of on-campus organizations and groups listed; only the specific names of the organizations/groups differed. Some of the more frequent and/or ethnic-specific organizations, centers, and groups listed by each ethnic group are shown below. Note: if more than one listing, the total number listed is included in parentheses after the organization.
· Asian American students: AKPSI, Alpha Phi Omega, Beta Alpha Psi, Asian Unity, CU Tae Kwon Do (2), Hmong Student Assoc, KASB (2), MASP (2), Vietnamese Student Alliance, Women in Engineering Program.
· African American students: African Student Association (4), Black Student Alliance (11), Center for Multicultural Affairs (3), ELLC (3), Ethnic Studies (2), Dennis Small Cultural Center, Dal Ward Center, MASP, Center for Multicultural Affairs (2), Multicultural Engineering Program (3), PLC (2), SASC (2), SORCE (3), Undergraduate Academy, Women’s Resource Center (2).
· Native American students: American Indian Student Services, Center for Multicultural Affairs (2), Cultural Unity Center (2), Dance Dept (2), ELLC, Multicultural Engineering Program, Oyate Student Office, PUKSTA Scholars, SASE (2), SORCE, Women’s Resource Center-WRC (2).
· Hispanic students: Dal Ward (2), ELLC (2), Center for Mult. Affairs (4), Bueno Center, MASP (2), McNeill Program (2), MECHA (2), Pi Lambda Chi Latina Sorority (2), SASC (2), SORCE (2), WRC.
· International students: Chinese Student Assoc, IFC, IIO, Indian Student Association, Indigenous Support Network, International Student Office/Coffee hours/Education Center (3), ISSO, ISSS, Muslim Students Assoc, Physics Department (2), SHIP, UGGS, Undergraduate Academy, WIEP, WRC.
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