Yuri Castano | Asking the hard questions

When a black male student gets handcuffed at Penn, and the facts remain unclear, blood starts pumping and adrenaline gets flowing all over campus. Such an incident took place two Wednesdays ago, on March 21, raising issues of bias-based profiling at Penn.

In the long run, the facts of this particular occurrence will be secondary in importance. A few years from now, what will matter most is how this University used the momentum of energized students, faculty and administrators to further the struggle to make this campus safe and prosperous for all.

How can our community move forward on the issue of bias-based profiling?

For starters, interested parties are advocating for hard facts about students' experiences with diversity and difference at Penn. Leaders of minority coalitions, the Pluralism Committee and other concerned students believe that a campus climate survey could provide this data.

"Have you personally experienced harassment (any conduct that has interfered unreasonably with your ability to work or learn) on this campus?"

This is a model question from a campus climate survey developed by Susan Rankin, senior diversity planning analyst at Penn State. Follow-up questions touch on issues of job discrimination, profiling and potential university responses to these issues.

The advantage of a campus climate survey is undeniable. If the administration asks students about their experiences, they will be better informed about where, when and how harassment and profiling are taking place. A comprehensive assessment will advise the administration on how to better address areas of concern.

Yet, even when the Pluralism Committee invited Rankin to campus in March 2006 to provide details about a campus climate survey, the administration showed little interest.

Reasoning for the administration's opposition to a survey has varied over the years, and has at times been questionable. A University representative told the Pluralism Committee that one concern regarding a campus climate assessment was its potential to cause survey fatigue, said Robert Schoenberg, an ex-officio member of the committee.

Present rationale seems more credible. Associate Provost Andrew Binns stated, "Given that we already participate in the COFHE survey, we believe a more effective use of resources is targeted assessments that address specific issues. This is a better approach than creating an additional survey from scratch."

COFHE - the Consortium on Financing Higher Education - is an organization of 31 private colleges and universities who conduct surveys at member schools. The COFHE survey traditionally addresses admissions, financial aid and costs. It also periodically conducts special studies to investigate aspects of institutional policy and administrative practices. At its core, though, the COFHE survey was not designed to gauge campus climate.

Last year, however, Penn added questions addressing campus climate and community safety to the survey, according to Robert Nelson, associate director of the provost's office.

The administration seems to be attempting to use the COFHE survey in place of a campus climate survey. But since the questions added are confidential, the community has no real way of knowing whether these questions even marginally address the issue of bias-based profiling.

Under the assumption that the updated survey does touch on the issue, there remains a legitimate doubt among student leaders -like Jun Li, chairwoman of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition, and Jerome Wright, political chairman of UMOJA - that the COFHE will be equipped for the job at hand.

An independent campus climate survey designed by professionals in the field would undoubtedly be more comprehensive and more efficient, but the University doesn't seem to want to pay for that increased quality.

Another peculiarity about the COFHE survey is that it is an exit survey, administered only to graduating seniors. There is no reason why a climate survey should follow that model. The COFHE survey experienced an extremely low response rate when administered last spring, which is an additional cause for concern.

When results from last year's COFHE arrive this month, the administration needs to judge whether the survey is truly viable. This review must include leaders of Penn's minority coalitions in order to be seen as legitimate.

However, an inclusive dialogue regarding COFHE data seems unlikely considering that even the survey's questions are surrounded by extreme secrecy.

If minority coalitions and the administration working together deem COFHE to be effective at addressing issues like bias-based profiling, then all interested parties may begin the process of perfecting the survey and increasing response rates.

If deemed ineffective, however, it would be prudent for Penn to heed the advice its been getting for years: Put forward the resources needed to get hard facts about diversity on campus.

Yuri Castano is a College sophomore from Mexico City, Mexico. His e-mail address is castano@dailypennsylvanian.com. Bringing the n Back appears on Wednesdays.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.