The results of the Student Association’s Campus Climate Survey show ethnic groups at Syracuse University evaluate the school’s efforts to promote diversity in different ways, prompting some members of the school to say there is a clear racial division at the university on certain issues surrounding diversity.

While the overall results of the survey, released in SA President Travis Mason’s Nov. 7 State of the Campus Address, showed students thought the school was doing an average job handling diversity, differences in responses were fairly consistent among the ethnic groups surveyed, said Joe Viscomi, a university research analyst who is tabulating the results.

In general, black respondents rated the school’s efforts to promote diversity the poorest, while white respondents rated the school the best, Viscomi said.

On a scale of one to 10, with one representing strong disagreement and 10 representing strong agreement, the university scored 5.7 – or just above average – when asked if SU is a comfortable and secure place for people regardless of race and ethnicity.

However, when the numbers are broken down, they show black women gave the university an average score of 3.6, Latina women gave a 5.8, Asian and Pacific Islander women a 6.4 and white women a 6.9.

The same pattern was almost identical for males, with black men giving an average score of 4.7, Latino men a 6.6, Asian and Pacific Islander a 6.4 and white men a 7.2.

‘To put it plainly, African-American kids and Caucasian students see things differently, and Asian and Hispanic students are somewhere in the middle,’ Viscomi said. ‘Our survey seems to mirror those of national surveys (at other universities).’

The survey had been in the works since the beginning of the semester, but was distributed via e-mail around Oct. 18 when The Daily Orange published its article on HillTV’s ‘Over the Hill’ program.

The survey was a stratified random sample, which means minorities were given a higher representation than their proportion of the campus population.

While Viscomi said responses to the survey might be skewed because of the timing, they are still a fairly accurate portrayal of how students see the campus in regards to diversity, showing a clear division along ethnic lines on some of the issues.

For example, 62.6 percent of black women and 47.1 percent of black men gave the university a score of nine or higher – strongly agreeing – when asked whether there was a racial or ethnic separation on campus; only 27.3 percent of white women and 24.4 percent of white men gave the university similar scores.

‘One of the things the research seems to suggest are results from a PWI – or predominantly white institution,’ said Tae-Sun Kim, assistant director at the Office of Multicultural Affairs. ‘And Syracuse is a predominantly white institution.’

Because white students make up a clear majority of the school’s population – 83.1 percent – they generally do not feel the need to seek out relationships with those from other backgrounds, Kim said.

White students are comfortable in almost every university setting, and therefore believe there are limited problems of race and ethnicity on campus, she said.

The university needs to push integration more, Kim said, suggesting the university do more to train resident advisers in ways to promote diversity in the dormitories. Results for the survey show ethnicities split on this issue as well.

When asked whether there were interracial tensions within the residence halls, students gave the university an average score of 4.8 – slightly disagreeing that these tensions existed.

However, black women gave an average score of 6.1, Latina women a 5.4, Asian and Pacific Islander women a 4.0 and white women a 3.5. Black men, meanwhile, gave an average score of 5.6, Latino men a 4.7, Asian and Pacific Islander men a 4.4 and white men a 3.5.

Besides making changes at the residence halls, Kim said a required course on diversity for every student at the university would bridge gaps in understanding.

When asked whether or not the university should require a course on the role of ethnicity and race in society, students gave SU a mean score of 6.0, or just above average.

However, black women gave an average score of 7.8, black men a 6.2 – scores that support the creation of such a class – while white women gave an average score of 4.5, white men a 4.2 – disagreeing that the class is necessary. Like with the other scores, Latinos and Asian and Pacific Islanders scored between the black and white races.

The survey did include some positive news for the university as students across all races said the university provides an environment for the free and open expression of ideas, opinions and beliefs. The average score for this question was 6.7.

But students gave the university a 7.4 when asked if there was a racial separation on campus with 62.6 percent of black women and 47.1 percent of black men giving this question a score of nine or higher – strongly agreeing – while 27.3 percent of white women and 24.4 percent of white men gave the university similar scores.

The split in the results among the white and black populations, in both how they see diversity on campus and what should be done to promote diversity, show that the school needs to do more, said Mason.

‘I think we as a community can now no longer guess at what’s going on,’ he said. ‘We have the data. Now we know what we have to get to work on. The university seriously needs to look into whether we need a class specifically for better race and ethnicity understanding. We need to talk seriously about recruitment and retention of staff of color.’

Mason also suggested the university create umbrella organizations to unite the separate student minority organizations on campus. This will allow for better interaction and communication between the minority organizations and the rest of campus.

‘We have strong groups on campus, but in order to maintain diversity you have to cultivate an environment for these groups to interact,’ Mason said.

Students themselves need to work harder to promote diversity too, Mason said. The D.O. scored just below average on the survey, receiving a 4.9 from students when they were asked if The D.O.’s coverage of racial or ethnic events and issues was balanced. Students gave University Union a 5.5 when asked if UU’s programming events were racially and ethnically balanced.

‘The survey is basically saying SU is average, but like I said before, this is not an average institution,’ Mason said. ‘Students should not grade this place as average. That says we’re not doing what we could.’

Published on November 16, 2005 at 12:00 pm