DEI survey email message from Provost Drell
Dear Stanford community,
Last summer, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and other tragic events involving people of color, President Tessier-Lavigne outlined the university’s commitment to fighting racial injustice and creating an inclusive and equitable university for all our members. Following Tuesday’s violent attack in Atlanta, which took the lives of eight people, including six women of Asian descent, the president again renewed our commitment in a statement to the university community.
It is in this context that we continue to advance our campus-wide IDEAL initiative, which serves as the focal point for our efforts to advance diversity, equity and inclusion – in our own communities and also in the research and teaching programs that extend Stanford’s impact far beyond our campus.
As part of this initiative, we will conduct a university-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) survey in May. The survey will focus on how race and ethnicity shape the experiences of our community members at Stanford. Faculty, students, postdoctoral scholars and staff will all have the opportunity to participate. A survey of this scale, reaching our entire campus community, is unprecedented at Stanford. We will be as transparent as possible about the development of this survey, and we will use its findings to hold ourselves accountable for improving the climate on campus.
University community members have asked us to conduct regular surveys on the racial climate on campus, and this is an important first step. Understanding the current environment is key to advancing our work in this area. The survey findings will help us better understand the issues, see where we have failed and determine where the university should direct its resources to address problems. The survey can also help determine where we may need to conduct additional research.
We need your feedback
The survey committee, composed of undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, faculty and staff, is working with the team in IR&DS (Institutional Research & Decision Support) to develop the survey. The committee is asking for your feedback to help shape priorities for this initial DEI survey, as well as to guide future DEI data collection efforts.
You can provide feedback directly to the committee by using this form. More information will be available soon on the IDEAL website.
Thank you for your participation in this project. Your candid feedback will be important to ensuring that Stanford is moving forward in its goal to foster a campus culture of diversity, inclusion, equity and access.
Sincerely,
Persis Drell