The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion held a presentation Wednesday detailing key results of the 2021 Climate Study on Race: Our Voices Count final report.

The study looked at the impact race has on our climate through a survey of open-ended questions to all members of the Kent State community.

The results showed a decrease in the community’s comfort levels of the climate at Kent since 2016, as well as the need to specifically focus on improving the climate for several minority populations.

According to N. J. Akbar, the Associate Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the study’s committee did not go into this process with preconceived ideas of the results.

“Our goal is to tell the story of how the community is feeling, how they feel about the climate and how we deal with race in general,” he said. “Our job as researchers is to share with the Kent community what is shared with us.”

The survey was created as a follow-up to a previous climate study from 2016, which focused on race and disability. The studies shared several questions, but the 2021 survey had a closer focus on race.

The committee stressed the impact the pandemic had on the results, as the questions from the recent study were sent to the Kent State community in 2020.

“It is important to note that the climate study was launched during the pandemic, so the vast majority of students that completed the study were online during it,” Akbar said. “Out of all the student responses, most came from freshmen, so they had not had the on-campus living experience yet.”

The questions included open-ended prompts about one racially motivated incident on campus and one that occurred at a national level, while another asked those taking the survey if they ever felt exclusionary behavior at Kent.

The survey design subcommittee then analyzed the responses according to race and other demographics.

“One of the things that I think is really important to understand is that when we do climate surveys, we’re often looking for those negative things that impact us so that we can actually fix them and make them better,” Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said during the presentation.

Answers from the survey stressed the need for more education on systemic racism and how it affects the actions and perspectives of students and faculty.

“We can continue to do a better job in assuring all communities are not only seen but that their contributions are valued,” Akbar said.

Members of the Kent State community are able to access reports of the results on the Kent State University official website, and the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is accepting requests until the end of the semester for deeper dives into the data not yet discussed.

The full report will be available upon request this coming summer.

Kayla Gleason is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].