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Survey Administration

In May 2021 an email invitation was sent out to 18,221 Stanford staff members, inviting them to participate in the IDEAL DEI survey. By the time the survey closed in June,  7,972 staff invitees (44%) had completed the survey.

Demographics of Respondents

Primary purposes of the IDEAL DEI survey included collecting new and more detailed information about who we are as a community and exploring how race and ethnicity shape the experiences of community members at Stanford.  For example, the IDEAL survey asked staff participants questions about gender identity, socio-economic background, disability, and more. Below are several examples of new information about the demographics and identities represented among the staff members who responded to the survey.  We encourage you to explore the survey data further in the IDEAL Survey Demographics Dashboards. You can also find information for the full staff population on the IDEAL Dashboard, which displays diversity data from university records (and does not incorporate data from this survey).

Racial or Ethnic Identity

When comparing the seven broad racial or ethnic identity categories included on the survey (staff were asked to check all of the categories that apply from the following list: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino/a, Middle Eastern or North African, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and White or European) to university records (see the IDEAL Dashboards), staff survey respondents generally resemble the overall racial and ethnic distribution of the Stanford staff population. However, this survey approached collecting racial or ethnic identity information differently than the federal race and ethnicity categories used in the IDEAL dashboards and other university reporting. For example, the survey added the category of Middle Eastern or North African to the broad racial or ethnic identity categories with which respondents can identify. In addition to selecting one or more broad categories, the survey prompted respondents to write in as much specific detail as they desired regarding their racial or ethnic identities. The survey also asked respondents to provide information about their country of origin and religious identity.

On the survey overall, 11% of staff indicated two or more racial or ethnic identity categories (for example, 242 respondents indicated both Hispanic or Latino/a and White or European identities), and 60% of staff wrote in additional details in addition to checking one or more of the seven main categories listed (for example, Chinese, Mexican, or Indian). 

Gender and Sexual Identity

Over the years Stanford has requested demographic information - including gender identity - from students, faculty, and staff through a variety of channels. Often the categories used in these instruments have not been consistent with one another. This DEI survey is the first major data collection effort to use a consistent set of identity labels for both gender and sexual identities across Stanford’s populations of students, faculty, and staff.

Approximately 15% of staff respondents indicated their sexual identity as something other than singularly heterosexual or straight. For example, approximately 4% identified as bisexual - either selecting just bisexual or in combination with other sexual identities. 

Additional Demographics

On the IDEAL Survey Demographic dashboards, you can view additional demographic and identity characteristics of survey respondents, and their intersections, including

  • Religious or spiritual identities
  • Politics
  • Country of origin 
  • Disabilities
  • Self-identified as coming from a low income background

For example 30% of staff survey respondents identified as coming from a low income background, while 35% are from families where no parent or guardian achieved a 4 year college degree or higher education

Inclusion and Sense of Belonging at Stanford

The survey covered several different aspects that might contribute to a respondent’s overall experience of inclusion or sense of belonging at Stanford:

  • feeling valued
  • finding groups, communities or spaces of inclusion or exclusion
  • general aspects of psychological safety while participating in day-to-day activities associated with a respondent’s role at Stanford

Feeling Valued

Overall, 68% of all staff survey respondents agreed that they “felt valued as an individual at Stanford,” and 81% said they felt valued in their department or work unit.  However, 56% of staff who identified as disabled agreed with feeling valued as an individual at Stanford, compared to 70% of the staff respondents who did not identify as disabled. Similarly, 63% of LGBTQ+ staff respondents felt valued as an individual at Stanford.

Inclusion and Exclusion

On average, 73% of staff survey respondents reported having found at least one community, group, or space at Stanford where they felt welcome. The proportion of staff that reported finding a welcoming, inclusive space at Stanford varied across racial or ethnic identities. For example, 63% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander staff respondents reported they had found a community, group, or space at Stanford where they felt welcome, whereas 78% of staff who identified as American Indian or Alaska Native reported having found a community, group, or space where they felt welcome. 

In the follow-up question that asked respondents to provide places where they felt welcome at Stanford, many staff identified work-related groups like project teams, work units, and departments as central to their sense of inclusion. Staff of color often also identified identity-based groups and organizations as important welcoming spaces outside of their primary work unit.

While 73% of staff indicated they found at least one welcoming space at Stanford, 27% of staff overall reported at least one place where they felt marginalized or excluded. 

  • Over half of staff who identified as genderqueer or nonbinary indicated encountering places where they felt marginalized or excluded. 
  • Forty-seven percent (47%) of staff who identified as disabled indicated encountering an exclusionary space.
  • Over 40% of staff who identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander indicated encountering places where they felt marginalized or excluded. 
  • Thirty-five percent (35%) of staff who identified as coming from a low income background indicated encountering places where they felt marginalized or excluded.
The percent of staff survey respondents who agreed that they had found a community, group or space in which they felt marginalized or excluded ranges from 24-44% when comparing across racial or ethnic identities.
Figure 1. Percentage of staff who have encountered a marginalizing space at Stanford, by racial or ethnic identity
The percent of staff survey respondents who agreed that they had found a community, group or space in which they felt marginalized or excluded ranges from 22-61% when comparing across gender identities.
Figure 2. Percentage of staff who have encountered a marginalizing space at Stanford, by gender identity

Psychological Safety 

(Psychological safety definition may be found on the Definitions page

The survey asked a set of questions to gauge staff respondents’ feelings of respect and safety in their work units at Stanford. One question, in particular, asked respondents to rate their agreement with the following statement: “I feel as though I have to work harder than my colleagues to be treated fairly”. Overall, across all units at Stanford, 25% of staff survey respondents agreed with this statement.

  • Forty-eight percent (48%) of staff  who identified as Black or African American and 46% of staff who identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander agreed with this statement.
  • Thirty-seven percent (37%) of staff who identified as disabled agreed with this statement.
  • Twenty-seven percent (27%) of staff who identified as a woman, and more than 30% of staff who identified as gender nonconforming, genderqueer, nonbinary, or trans agreed that they “feel as though I have to work harder than my colleagues to be treated fairly.” Twenty percent (20%) of staff who identified as a man agreed with this statement.

You can explore these findings in the Belonging and Including dashboards.

Experience with Microaggression, Discriminatory Behaviors, and Harassing Behaviors

The survey asked about individuals' experiences with microaggression, discriminatory, and harassing behaviors. (You can find out more about how the survey asked about these experiences in the FAQ document). Experiences with these behaviors at Stanford were broadly present across staff survey respondents in most units at Stanford. Overall, 38% of staff experienced at least one of these behaviors within the last two years. Overall, across all racial or ethnic and gender identities, more than 25% of staff respondents in nearly every unit with more than 10 survey respondents indicated they had experienced at least one of these behaviors within the last two years. At least forty-six percent (46%) of staff that identified as Black or African American across all represented work units indicated experiencing one or more of these behaviors.

Before further discussing the prevalence of these experiences it is important to highlight the impact that these harmful behaviors had on staff survey respondents:

  • 84% of staff who experienced at least one instance of microaggression, discriminatory, or harassing behaviors indicated at least one significant impact.
  • 30% of staff who experienced microaggression, 41% who experienced at least one discriminatory behavior, and 61% who experienced verbal harassing behaviors felt their experiences “created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive social, academic, or work environment.”
  • Subsequent to their experiences, about 31% “seriously considered leaving Stanford,” 30% “felt uncomfortable voicing their opinions,” and 25% “avoided departmental or professional events.”

Microaggressions

“Microaggression” is used as a term for commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups (Sue 2010). Racial microaggressions are “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a racial minority group”(Sue et al 2007).

The word “microaggression” itself never appeared on the survey. Rather, respondents were asked whether they experienced specific types of behaviors during the last two years by someone associated with Stanford: 

  • Someone invalidated your lived experience due to your racial or ethnic identity, 
  • Someone assumed you were inferior due to your racial or ethnic identity, 
  • Someone acted as if they were afraid or wary of you due to your racial or ethnic identity, 
  • Someone made you feel othered or exoticized due to your racial or ethnic identity. 

Each of these questions also listed several concrete examples of these behaviors. In this report, we use the collective term microaggression to describe any of these experienced behaviors.

The percent of survey respondents who indicated they experienced microaggressions ranged widely across demographic groups - particularly by racial or ethnic identity.

The percent of staff respondents who experienced at least one microaggression ranges from 9-59% when comparing across racial or ethnic identities.
Figure 3. Percentage of staff who experienced microaggressions, by racial or ethnic identity

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of staff respondents who identified as Black or African American indicated they experienced at least one form of microaggression over the past two years. Of staff who identified with racial or ethnic identities other than (or in addition to) White or European, 25% to 42% experienced microaggressions. Nine percent (9%) of respondents who identified as White or European indicated experiencing microaggressions.

When asked about their relationship to the perpetrators of these microaggressions, 26% of staff survey respondents indicated that their boss or supervisor was a perpetrator.

Discriminatory Behaviors

(Discriminatory behaviors definition may be found on the Definitions page)

Survey respondents were directly asked, during the last two years, “have you ever experienced discriminatory behaviors by someone associated with Stanford?” For example:

  • Denied equitable research opportunities
  • Unfair hiring
  • Denied leave request (including vacation)
  • Denied or overlooked for professional development or mentorship opportunities

Overall, 21% of staff survey respondents (1,504 respondents altogether) experienced discriminatory behaviors by someone associated with Stanford. Thirty-four percent (34%) of American Indian or Alaska Native,  34% of Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 32% of Black or African American, staff experienced discriminatory behaviors by someone associated with Stanford.

If a respondent indicated having experienced discriminatory behaviors, they were then presented with the following text:

 

The percent of staff who experienced discriminatory behaviors ranges from 18-34% when comparing across racial or ethnic identities. Of those who experienced discriminatory behaviors, the percent who feel their experiences were due to their racial or ethnic identity ranges from 7-55% across groups.
Figure 4. Percentage of staff who experienced discriminatory behaviors, and who believed it was due to their racial or ethnic identity
  • Fifty-five percent (55%) of Black or African American respondents who experienced discriminatory behaviors believed these behaviors were due to their racial or ethnic identity.
  • Thirty-two percent (32%) of Hispanic or Latino/a respondents who experienced discriminatory behaviors believed these behaviors were due to their racial or ethnic identity.
  • Seven percent (7%) of White or European respondents who experienced discriminatory behaviors believed these behaviors were due to their racial or ethnic identity.

Of the staff who believed their experience of discriminatory behavior was due to their racial or ethnic identity, the three most common behaviors indicated were:

  • denied or overlooked for a promotion (57%), 
  • denied equitable compensation (47%), and 
  • denied or overlooked for professional development or mentorship opportunities (42%).

Verbal, Written, or Online Harassing Behaviors

Survey respondents were asked:

During the last two years you have been employed at Stanford (or fewer, depending on when you were hired), have you ever experienced verbal, written, or online harassing behaviors by someone associated with Stanford? For example:

  • Someone made a derogatory remark or gesture in person or online  
  • Someone sent me a derogatory email, text, or social media post  
  • Someone defaced property with derogatory graffiti  
  • I was embarrassed, humiliated, or threatened by someone in person or online

Overall, 18% of staff survey respondents indicated having experienced verbal, written, or online harassing behaviors within the past two years. When breaking out this statistic by demographic categories we found that: 

  • One third (33%) of staff who identified as having a disability indicated verbal, written, or online harassing behaviors by someone associated with Stanford, compared to 16% of staff who did not identify as disabled. 
  • Similarly, 33% of staff who identified as trans and 29% who identified as gender non-binary indicated they experienced these behaviors, compared to 14% of staff who identified as men.
    • Note: As with the racial or ethnic identities described in the Demographics section, respondents could select one or more choices from a list of both gender and sexual identities.

When asked about their relationship to the perpetrators of these verbal harassing behaviors, 41% of staff survey respondents indicated that their boss or supervisor was a perpetrator, and 26% indicated a faculty member was a perpetrator.

Physically Harassing Behaviors

The survey question asking about physical harassing behaviors listed as examples:

  • “I was threatened with physical violence”
  • “I experienced physical violence”
  • “Someone tried to touch me without my consent”
  • “I was touched in a way that I did not want”

Overall 125 staff survey respondents indicated they experienced physical harassing behaviors by someone associated with Stanford within the past two years. 

Impacts of These Experiences Among Staff

When reflecting on the totality of their experiences, the most commonly indicated impacts among staff survey respondents who experienced at least one of the behaviors described above included:

  • Seriously considering leaving Stanford (31%), 
  • Feeling uncomfortable voicing their opinions (30%), 
  • Avoiding departmental or professional events (25%), and 
  • Having difficulty concentrating on work (24%).

When asked about the impacts directly associated with each of the four experiences surveyed: 

  • Of staff who experienced microaggressions, approximately 63% indicated that they experienced some sort of significant impact as result of these behaviors. The most commonly cited impact (30% of staff who experienced microaggressions) was “created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive social, academic, or work environment.”
  • Of staff who experienced verbal harassing behaviors, 85% indicated that they experienced some sort of significant impact as result of these behaviors. The most commonly cited impact was “created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive social, academic, or work environment” (61%).
  • Of staff who experienced discriminatory behaviors, 88% indicated that they experienced some sort of significant impact as result of these behaviors. The most commonly cited impacts were “Created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive social, academic, or work environment” (41%) and “Interfered with your academic or professional performance” (38%).

For More Information

We encourage you to explore the survey findings by viewing dashboards on:

References

Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. Wiley. pp. xvi. ISBN 978-0-470-49140-9.

Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: implications for clinical practice. American psychologist, 62(4), 271.