Campus Inclusion Climate Survey: Student Feeling of Belonging on Campus
Students who selected into certain social categories (e.g., self-identified as a student of color or as having a disability) responded to questions about feelings of belongingness or comfort openly expressing their identities or viewpoints on campus. Below are their results, separated by groups of students: main campus and ROCE.
Key Findings
- Sense of belonging or feelings of comfort expressing one’s identity or viewpoint varied across student groups, with the majority of students in almost every group agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement.
- Overall, ROCE students in these groups reported higher sense of belonging than main campus students.
- Within the main campus, undergraduates tended to report higher belonging than graduate students from these groups.
- Main campus students of color were the least likely to agree or strongly agree with the question (just 40%).
- Just over half (52%) of LGBQA+ students on the main campus agreed or strongly agreed that they feel comfortable openly expressing their identities on campus. More LGBQA+ graduate students on the main campus disagreed with this statement than agreed with it.
- Whereas 64% of students on main campus agreed or strongly agreed that they feel comfortable openly expressing their religious /spiritual beliefs on campus, fewer students on the main campus agreed or strongly agreed that they feel comfortable openly expressing their political views/worldviews on campus (50%).
“As a student of color, I feel like I belong on campus.”
(only respondents who identified as students of color answered this question)
| Main Campus | ROCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 14 (16.3%) | 4 (8.7%) |
| Disagree | 16 (18.6%) | 0 (0%) |
| Neutral | 22 (25.6%) | 6 (13.0%) |
| Agree | 23 (26.7%) | 12 (26.1%) |
| Strongly Agree | 11 (12.8%) | 24 (52.2%) |
| Total | 86 | 46 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 3.4
Undergraduate mean = 3.39
Graduate mean = 3.42
ROCE mean = 4.13
“Based on my gender, I feel like I belong at Springfield College.”
(only respondents who identified as women answered this question)
| Main Campus | ROCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 1 (0.40%) | 1 (1.2%) |
| Disagree | 3 (1.1%) | 0 (0%) |
| Neutral | 40 (14.2%) | 14 (16.5%) |
| Agree | 127 (45.2%) | 32 (37.6%) |
| Strongly Agree | 110 (39.1%) | 38 (44.7%) |
| Total | 287 | 85 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 4.23
Undergraduate mean = 4.23
Graduate mean = 4.20
ROCE mean = 4.26
“As an international student, I feel like I belong on campus.”
(only respondents who identified as international students answered this question)
Note: ROCE students did not respond to this question.
| Main Campus | |
|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 2 (12.5%) |
| Disagree | 0 (0.0%) |
| Neutral | 3 (18.8%) |
| Agree | 6 (37.5%) |
| Strongly Agree | 5 (31.3%) |
| Total | 16 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 3.75
Undergraduate mean = 3.9
Graduate mean = 3.5
“As a student with a disability, I feel like I belong on campus.”
(only respondents who identified as having a disability answered this question)
| Main Campus | ROCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 2 (3.1%) | 1 (5.6%) |
| Disagree | 7 (10.9%) | 2 (11.1%) |
| Neutral | 12 (18.8%) | 1 (5.6%) |
| Agree | 23 (35.9%) | 5 (27.8%) |
| Strongly Agree | 20 (31.3%) | 9 (50.0%) |
| Total | 64 | 18 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 3.87
Undergraduate mean = 3.95
Graduate mean = 3.69
ROCE mean = 4.06
“I can openly express my sexual orientation on campus.”
(only respondents who identified as LBGQA+ answered this question)
| Main Campus | ROCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 5 (7.7%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Disagree | 12 (18.5%) | 1 (12.5%) |
| Neutral | 14 (21.5%) | 3 (37.5%) |
| Agree | 23 (35.4%) | 1 (12.5%) |
| Strongly Agree | 11 (16.9%) | 3 (37.5%) |
| Total | 65 | 8 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 3.4
Undergraduate mean = 3.63
Graduate mean = 2.92
ROCE mean = 3.75
“I can openly express my gender identity on campus.”
(only respondents who identified as trans, genderqueer, non-binary, intersex answered this question; no ROCE students identified with these labels and therefore no ROCE students answered this question)
| Main Campus | ROCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 2 (3.3%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Disagree | 6 (9.8%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Neutral | 12 (19.7%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Agree | 23 (37.7%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Strongly Agree | 18 (29.5%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Total | 61 | 0 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 3.8
Undergraduate mean = 4
Graduate mean = 3.45
“I feel comfortable openly expressing my religious/spiritual beliefs on campus.”
| Main Campus | ROCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 5 (1.1%) | 1 (0.8%) |
| Disagree | 32 (7.1%) | 4 (3.3%) |
| Neutral | 127 (28.0%) | 28 (23.3%) |
| Agree | 191 (42.2%) | 49 (40.8%) |
| Strongly Agree | 98 (21.6%) | 38 (31.7%) |
| Total | 453 | 120 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 3.81
Undergraduate mean = 3.82
Graduate mean = 3.8
ROCE mean = 3.99
“I feel comfortable openly expressing my political views/worldviews on campus.”
| Main Campus | ROCE | |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly Disagree | 30 (6.1%) | 6 (4.9%) |
| Disagree | 88 (18.0%) | 10 (8.1%) |
| Neutral | 128 (26.1%) | 38 (30.9%) |
| Agree | 194 (39.6%) | 45 (36.6%) |
| Strongly Agree | 50 (10.2%) | 24 (19.5%) |
| Total | 490 | 123 |
Note: Strongly disagree = 1, Disagree = 2, Neutral = 3, Agree = 4, Strongly Agree = 5
Overall mean = 3.35
Undergraduate mean = 3.34
Graduate mean = 3.38
ROCE mean = 3.58
Veteran Status belonging not included due to small number of responses (N = 3).
