Diversity Workshops On Campus: A Survey Of Current Practice At U.S. Colleges And Universities - Polling Data - Statistical Data Included

Variations in prevalence of workshops

We had hypothesized that more selective institutions might be more likely to use workshops. This hypothesis was supported but the relationship was not strong: from most selective to least selective, diversity workshops were reported by 83%, 78%, 68%, and 67% of institutions. (r=.13 p [is less than] .03 two-tailed). Similarly, there was a small but significant tendency (r=.16, p=.03) for the more selective schools to have initiated diversity workshops earlier than less selective schools. The average year of introduction for the Megaselective schools was 1990, for Highly Selective Schools was 1991, and for both Selective and Not Selective Schools was 1992. Use of diversity workshops was also linked to cost and region. Diversity workshops were more likely at more expensive schools (r=.21, p [is less than] .01) and more likely in the Northeast than in the South and West (New England and Middle States 83%, Midwest 74%, South and Southwest 62%, and West 58%

Characteristics of Diversity Training Workshops

Table 1 shows the results of our questions about campus use of diversity workshops. There are two kinds of questions. The more familiar kind of question offers alternative responses, such that the sum of percentages across alternative responses should total 100%. The less familiar kind of question asks respondents to respond yes or no to each of a number of responses, such that each alternative is in effect a different question. Questions in this less familiar format are starred in Table 1; the first starred item, for instance, is "Who are DW offered for?" and respondents could answer yes for none or all of the three responses: "faculty," "staff," and "students". The sum of percentages across these responses will not total 100%.

When workshops are offered. Table 1 shows that 36% of schools offer diversity workshops only during freshman orientation; 61% offer workshops open to all whenever given.

For whom workshops are offered. Almost all schools (95%) offered workshops for students; about half also offer workshops for faculty and staff (54-55%).

Mandatory workshop. Student attendance is required at 42% of schools offering workshops, but only 5% of schools require faculty and staff to attend. The strength of the requirement for students is variable. Some schools encourage all students to attend, some schedule all students to attend, but no school reported any explicit penalty for students who did not attend.

Academic credit. Only 12% of schools give students academic credit for participation in a workshop.

Introduction of workshop. Diversity workshops are a very recent innovation; almost all respondents (93%) report that their workshops have been introduced since 1986.

Workshop consultants. Only 16% of respondents report that their workshops are associated with any particular organization or consulting group.

Student participation. Across all institutions with workshops, a mean of 64% of eligible students participated in diversity workshops. For each school, the percentage was calculated from response to a question about the number of students participating in 1996-97, divided by response to a question about the number of students eligible to participate in 1996-97.