Surveys, meetings, focus groups planned

A research study exploring the experiences students have on campus and in the Mount Pleasant community may contribute to improving CMU’s campus climate for diversity.

The project, led by Sociology Professor Mary Senter, is supported with a three-year $172,000 CMU 2010 grant. Senter, along with a team of faculty members and students, will use a variety of research measures such as surveys, focus groups, interviews, and follow-up studies to conduct research over the next three years.

The faculty research team includes Angela Haddad, sociology; Christopher Owens, and Cherie Strachan, political science; Lisa Patterson, communication and dramatic arts; Ulana Klymyshyn, Multicultural Center; and Danielle Tate, Minority Student Services.

Last spring, sociology and political science students conducted phone interviews polling more than 400 students on questions ranging from their attitudes about diversity on campus to their experiences on campus and during high school with people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds. Nearly 400 students of color also completed a companion Web survey.

Key findings from that survey data include:

• Students generally are supportive of the
  diversity initiative, and many are participating in activities designed to increase their exposure and understanding of people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

• Students of color bring to campus a wider set of diverse experiences and are more engaged with diversity than others while on campus. On the other hand, students of color report a series of negative experiences on campus, which need to be addressed so that all students can enjoy and benefit fully from their CMU experience.
  

Additional reports will be completed and made available throughout the study period, Senter said. The diversity study group also is planning to hold campus meetings to share the findings with interested groups and community members.

“Our prime purpose is to make these findings widely available on campus and in the community,” she said. “We want students, faculty, and the university as a whole to understand the campus and community climate better so that, working together, we can make improvements that benefit everyone.”

Focus groups and one-on-one interviews with students of color will take place beginning this fall and continue over the study period. A survey of the Mount Pleasant community is planned in the spring. In addition, an analysis will be done on the ways in which student organizations do or do not promote inclusiveness on campus.

More than 200 CMU freshmen will be followed for four years to explore ways in which their attitudes and experiences develop or change.

The final phase in the project, planned for 2010, includes post-test telephone interviews to track changes on campus resulting from campus-wide diversity initiatives.

Students are involved in the project in multiple ways. Data collection activities are integrated into research methods courses in sociology and political science and into communication interviewing classes. Additionally, students are gaining hands-on training in research.

Mark Johnson, a CMU senior and McNair program scholar, said he has learned how to conduct and analyze statistical research. “I immediately jumped at the chance to be a part of something that was so important to the community of Central Michigan University in an atmosphere post-Affirmative Action,” Johnson said. “I hope that the data and the research findings illicit further discussion and dialogue.” •

Ashley Sharon, left, and Johnathan Bogan, right, practice interviewing in a recent classroom exercise directed by Lisa Patterson, communication and dramatic arts faculty
member. CMU students like these will be involved in
various stages of diversity research.