{"id":47541,"date":"2016-12-07T16:35:25","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T22:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=47541"},"modified":"2016-12-08T08:23:06","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T14:23:06","slug":"u-of-c-climate-survey-says-women-and-racial-and-sexual-minorities-dont-feel-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-of-c-climate-survey-says-women-and-racial-and-sexual-minorities-dont-feel-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Women, and racial and sexual minorities don&#8217;t feel welcome, U of C climate survey says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Alex Ortiz<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">The University of Chicago made national headlines in August when <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChicagoMaroon\/status\/768561465183862785\/photo\/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">it declared<\/a> the campus a trigger-warning-free zone, igniting a national debate about the lack safe spaces for marginalized students. Now, a newly released campus climate survey validates the feeling of many that the campus\u2019 racial climate is, indeed, rife with racism, sexism and intolerant of people with disabilities.<!--more--><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Released in November, <a href=\"https:\/\/voices.uchicago.edu\/climatesurvey\/files\/2016\/09\/UCM300717.ClimateSurveyReport.v4.111716-zl5tj8.pdf\">the survey<\/a> found students of color gave the overall university lower ratings for a positive racial climate; <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">40 percent of black respondents perceive the \u201coverall institutional climate as racist\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">41 percent of trans-genderqueer-agender respondents said the institutional climate is sexist<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">28 percent of females surveyed said the campus environment is sexist<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">About 30 percent of those with a disability perceive the overall institutional climate to be intolerant of disability accommodation<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, university administrators aim to create a diverse and inclusive campus. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt is crucial that we cultivate a climate that is welcoming for individuals of all backgrounds,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/provost.uchicago.edu\/announcements\/2016-campus-climate-survey-findings\">according to<\/a> Provost Daniel Diermeier. \u201cThat we create the conditions for attracting a wide range of talent; and that we prevent and correct incidents of bias, discrimination and harassment, which threaten the university\u2019s climate, intellectual mission and the individuals within it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But at least one student is not buying it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jenn Jackson is a doctoral student focusing on the politics of race, gender and sexuality and the managing editor of the Black Youth Project, an online hub and resource for African-American youth. As a black, queer woman, she is not surprised. Despite the survey asking the right questions, the campus \u00a0does not do justice marginalized students\u2019 experiences, Jackson said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cFar too often, these surveys reinforce this idea that you can gauge or evaluate issues like racism, sexism, queer antagonism through a snapshot style of survey,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cThis idea that we can just say, \u2018Hey how do you feel about this? Rate it on a one to 10 scale.\u2019 \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What Jackson wants is a survey centered on the students most affected by racism, sexism and homophobia. She wants the university to delve deeper into their everyday experiences navigating the campus and how structural inequalities make this more difficult, both literally and figuratively. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jackson also identifies as differently abled because of a congenital heart defect and finds herself \u201covercome\u201d having to traverse the campus to simply find a bathroom. So for someone who might not have full use of their legs, it would be even more difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To Jackson, the reason for the apparent lack of commitment to tackling structural inequalities goes back to a letter the Dean of Students John Ellison sent to incoming freshmen in August. The letter made headlines for expressing the university\u2019s opposition of \u201csafe spaces\u201d and \u201ctrigger warnings.\u201d Some, like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/articles\/2016\/08\/26\/university-of-chicago-s-p-c-crackdown-is-really-about-keeping-right-wing-donors-happy.html\">Jay Michaelson<\/a> in <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Daily Beast<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">speculated the letter was prompted by rich donors who do not agree with politically correct attitudes on college campuses. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jackson agrees with that speculation but points to what she considers a lack of financial investment in creating a more inclusive environment and a more diverse student body and faculty. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe politics of capitalism pervade institutions in ways that commodify the actual humans who are present in the institution,\u201d Jackson said. For example, \u201chaving more queer, black women who disrupt and who challenge the status quo is not popular, nor is it financially lucrative.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ultimately, to Jackson actions like the survey are simply \u201cperformative\u201d and do not actually benefit marginalized students who have been complaining about inequality for years. Those structural problems are still there. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just this week, posters of Adolf Hitler and swastikas <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagomaroon.com\/article\/2016\/12\/6\/militant-neo-nazi-group-claims-credit-hanging-hitl\/\">were found<\/a> on campus. While Jackson admits there have been heightened incidents of bigotry since the Nov. 8 presidential election, that doesn\u2019t mean the campus was safe for students like her even before then. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If there are any positives for Jackson, it\u2019s that there are some structures in place like organized student activists, social media and platforms like the Black Youth Project, which can put more pressure on university administrators. But for now, there is little hope for her in things like the survey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI\u2019m not encouraged by it,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cWhat ends up happening a lot of times, especially when there\u2019s mediocre attempts a progressivism, is that when a little thing happens, that\u2019s not really a victory for the people that need it the most, far too often administrations, institutions, they pat themselves on the back.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: The University of Chicago campus. (Alex Ortiz\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alex Ortiz The University of Chicago made national headlines in August when it declared the campus a trigger-warning-free zone, igniting a national debate about the lack safe spaces for marginalized students. Now, a newly released campus climate survey validates the feeling of many that the campus\u2019 racial climate is, indeed, rife with racism, sexism [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":47548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2941,675],"tags":[1321,1701,3485,1794,146,3475,3484,3302,989,3483],"class_list":["post-47541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2016","category-social-justice","tag-discrimination","tag-gender","tag-harassment","tag-inequality","tag-race","tag-racism","tag-safe-space","tag-sexism","tag-sexuality","tag-trigger-warning"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Women, and racial and sexual minorities don&#039;t feel welcome, U of C climate survey says - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-of-c-climate-survey-says-women-and-racial-and-sexual-minorities-dont-feel-welcome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women, and racial and sexual minorities don&#039;t feel welcome, U of C climate survey says - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alex Ortiz The University of Chicago made national headlines in August when it declared the campus a trigger-warning-free zone, igniting a national debate about the lack safe spaces for marginalized students. Now, a newly released campus climate survey validates the feeling of many that the campus\u2019 racial climate is, indeed, rife with racism, sexism [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-of-c-climate-survey-says-women-and-racial-and-sexual-minorities-dont-feel-welcome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-07T22:35:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-08T14:23:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/12\/IMG_2967.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alexortiz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alexortiz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-of-c-climate-survey-says-women-and-racial-and-sexual-minorities-dont-feel-welcome\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/u-of-c-climate-survey-says-women-and-racial-and-sexual-minorities-dont-feel-welcome\/\",\"name\":\"Women, and racial and sexual minorities don't feel welcome, U of C climate survey says - 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