PACIE probes faculty feelings on diversity
Chris MacDonald '10
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: News
The faculty and staff results of the PACIE (President's Action Committee on Inclusive Excellence) survey, conducted in fall 2007, were presented to about 300 faculty and staff members by the coordinating Committee on Inclusive Excellence last week. The results, while "expected," said Associate Dean of Academic and Campus Life Alex Vasquez, suggested that faculty and staff perceive a "superficial friendliness," intolerance, and lack of upward mobility on campus.
The survey was an effort to gather "baseline data" regarding the campus climate, which will be used to "address our community experiences with diversity, differences, and inclusion," said Vasquez.
Similar to the student version, which was given concurrently, the faculty and staff PACIE survey was available in paper and electronic form. Around 32 percent of faculty and staff participated in the survey, slightly more than the 24 percent of students who participated.
"When you look at the campus climate as a whole, the climate is pretty good-perhaps better than other colleges" said Vasquez. Overall the campus climate was rated at about a 4-4.5 out of 6, 6 as the most positive assessment, but faculty and staff felt there is tension underlying Wheaton's "superficial friendliness."
"There seems to be an aggressive friendliness on campus-in a sense that we're going to be friendly whether you like it or not; we're not going to talk about tough stuff, we are going to get along," Vasquez said of the results.
This came as little surprise to some surveyed like Professor Paula Krebs. "Would you rather have a surface unfriendliness that reflects the tension below, or would you rather that people thought there was no tension?" she said. "Of course there's tension-where there is racial difference, there is tension; where there is gender difference, there is tension, and likewise for sexuality."
Krebs went on to explain that, while she respects "the impulse behind the survey," she thinks that it reaffirmed what she believes most members of the community already know. She also faulted the survey for what she felt was its mostly evaluative nature and lack of focus on action.
The survey was an effort to gather "baseline data" regarding the campus climate, which will be used to "address our community experiences with diversity, differences, and inclusion," said Vasquez.
Similar to the student version, which was given concurrently, the faculty and staff PACIE survey was available in paper and electronic form. Around 32 percent of faculty and staff participated in the survey, slightly more than the 24 percent of students who participated.
"When you look at the campus climate as a whole, the climate is pretty good-perhaps better than other colleges" said Vasquez. Overall the campus climate was rated at about a 4-4.5 out of 6, 6 as the most positive assessment, but faculty and staff felt there is tension underlying Wheaton's "superficial friendliness."
"There seems to be an aggressive friendliness on campus-in a sense that we're going to be friendly whether you like it or not; we're not going to talk about tough stuff, we are going to get along," Vasquez said of the results.
This came as little surprise to some surveyed like Professor Paula Krebs. "Would you rather have a surface unfriendliness that reflects the tension below, or would you rather that people thought there was no tension?" she said. "Of course there's tension-where there is racial difference, there is tension; where there is gender difference, there is tension, and likewise for sexuality."
Krebs went on to explain that, while she respects "the impulse behind the survey," she thinks that it reaffirmed what she believes most members of the community already know. She also faulted the survey for what she felt was its mostly evaluative nature and lack of focus on action.
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