On Friday, March 27, Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Brooke Vick shared the 2026 Campus Culture & Climate Survey Report with the student body, a survey conducted in the spring of 2025, approximately a year before the release of its results. Prior to this, Swarthmore College had gone a full decade without conducting a comprehensive climate survey aimed at understanding current student, staff, and faculty experiences regarding DEI on campus.
According to the report — the full version of which is only accessible to students, faculty, and staff — the college excels in various aspects of its campus climate, but there are also issues that emerged: a higher percentage (70%) of Muslim students report being discriminated against or harassed than students with other religious backgrounds, staff feel least respected among all community members on campus, respondents find talking to those with different political affiliations difficult, and more.
The survey was administered by the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) consortium, with additional custom questions tailored to campus members’ specific areas of concern. According to the report, the data were collected in 2025, from March 19 to April 30, through quantitative and qualitative questions that evaluate “perceptions of campus climate and institutional support for diversity, interactions across demographic and identity differences, and experiences with discrimination and harassment.”
Among the 1,110 respondents were 441 students, 433 staff, and 180 faculty, constituting a 26%, 54%, and 57% response rate in each group respectively. This amounts to an overall response rate of 40%, substantially higher than the 17% average response rate at other four-year colleges who conducted surveys around this time, according to HEDS.
Overall, 66% of student respondents are “generally satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the campus climate (other options being “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied,” “generally dissatisfied,” and “very dissatisfied”). This is slightly lower than the average satisfaction reported by students at four-year colleges (72%) and at other (higher education) institutions (79%). Among faculty, fewer than half (46%) are generally or very satisfied, which is significantly lower than average faculty satisfaction at four-year colleges (64%) and other institutions (68%). Staff at Swarthmore, however, report higher satisfaction, with 74% generally or very satisfied, similar to staff satisfaction at four-year colleges (74%) and at other institutions (73%).
At Swarthmore, 45% of student respondents agree or strongly agree that the institution supports diversity and equity, which is similar to the 47% average at four-year colleges. Among faculty, 51% indicated agreement or strong agreement, also comparable to the four-year college average (50%). Staff respondents reported the highest perception of institutional support, with 61% agreeing or strongly agreeing, a figure slightly higher than the four-year college average of 52%.
Swarthmore performed well in several DEI metric categories: the data reflected frequent interactions between community members of differing backgrounds and identities, with the majority of respondents reporting a high level of comfort in such interactions. Many respondents described “having authentic and caring relationships” on campus. Students reported having a shared trust in the open-mindedness of faculty and staff.
In addition to these strengths, however, the survey reveals areas of concern in certain aspects of campus life:
1. Muslim students report experiencing the most harassment and discrimination and least institutional support out of all identity categories within the student body.
The average student satisfaction rating on the campus climate indicator, which measures the general sense of belonging at Swarthmore and the campus environment regarding diversity, is 3.54 out of 5 (1 being very dissatisfied and 5 being very satisfied). This rating falls between “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” and “generally satisfied.” A comparison of responses to this question across identity categories (gender, race, religion, political views, etc.) reveals that Muslim student satisfaction sits below that of all other groups measured. The 2.80 rating is the only average response which is slightly below neutral. Similarly, institutional support for diversity and equity has an overall rating of 3.10 among all students, with Muslim students reporting the lowest perceived level of institutional support at 2.38.
The average ratings on the campus climate indicator and institutional support for diversity and equity among employees (including faculty and staff) are 3.63 and 3.48 respectively, both slightly higher than students’ responses. Among employees, the most dissatisfied group on both indicators is people who are temporarily disabled, with satisfaction ratings of 3.17 and 2.85 respectively. This may be related to the impact and difficulty caused by injury on their work and livelihoods, especially for staff. Fewer than five employee respondents were Muslim, thus the level of satisfaction among Muslim employees was not shown in the report to protect their privacy.
70% of Muslim student respondents experienced discrimination or harassment at Swarthmore, much higher than the 34% average at other four-year colleges. This proportion is also drastically higher than the average percentages of Swarthmore students who are Christian (26%), Jewish (34%), spiritual but not religious (31%), atheist/agnostic (16%), and adhere to other religions (21%) reporting having been discriminated against or harassed.
2. Staff feel less respected on campus than faculty and students.
In the HEDS survey, questions regarding respect were customized for Swarthmore’s survey in response to concerns about some Swarthmore community members being disrespected or undervalued. Despite reporting more positive attitudes toward the overall campus climate and institutional support than students and faculty, staff feel least respected on campus overall, reporting perceiving less respect by faculty (3.30 out of 5) than by students (3.60 out of 5) and other staff (4.15 out of 5). On the other hand, all community members feel respected by staff members, with ratings over 4 for all groups.
Another notable finding regarding respect is that, despite feeling respected by students (4.16) and staff (4.10) in general, faculty members feel less respected by their fellow professors (3.69).
3. People with long-term disabilities report experiencing more discrimination and harassment than non-disabled people.
Although all respondents groups report hearing insensitive or disparaging remarks regarding disability less frequently than remarks related to any other identities (such as political affiliation, sexual orientation, age, or religious background), community members with long-term disabilities report feeling more discriminated against than those without. Among student respondents, those with long-term disabilities report experiencing discrimination or harassment at a rate of 41%, nearly twice that of students without long-term disabilities (21%). Likewise, employees with long-term disabilities experience discrimination or harassment at a rate of 33%, about twice that of employees without (17%).
4. Community members feel a lot of tension related to individual or group differences. Interactions across political differences are less frequent and are perceived as uncomfortable by respondents.
Compared to the average of four-year institutions, Swarthmore students, staff, and faculty all have a much stronger perception of tension on campus related to group or individual differences. Respondents generally disagreed with the notion that the college is free from diversity-related tension; at peer institutions, all students and employees tend toward neutrality on this topic.
While Swarthmore community members generally report interacting daily or weekly with people across differences (of socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, etc.), fewer have frequent interactions across differences in disability, citizenship status, or political affiliation. Moreover, average comfort levels interacting with those of different political affiliations, philosophies, or views are much lower than their comfort levels with other types of differences. Among students, staff, and faculty, reports of feeling “very comfortable” interacting with people who differ from them in most identity categories are above 60%, with the sole exception of political differences. Only 35% of students, 46% of faculty, and 49% of staff report feeling “very comfortable” interacting with people holding different political views than themselves.
The most frequently reported basis for discrimination among students is race and ethnicity, with an average rating of 2.45 (between “sometimes” and “rarely”), followed closely by political affiliation at 2.17. Faculty also report these two identities as the most frequent bases for discrimination, with race- and ethnicity-based discrimination at 2.41 and political-affiliation–based discrimination at 2.33. For staff, however, age is the most commonly reported basis for discrimination, at 2.16.
5. Only 41% of discrimination and harassment incidents were reported to college officials.
Of respondents who experienced discrimination or harassment, only 41% of them reported the incident to the college, meaning that roughly 59% of incidents went without official intervention. Compared with faculty (42%) and staff (42%), students report the smallest proportion of discrimination incidents (39%) by a narrow margin. Students also demonstrate the least knowledge of the reporting process, while staff respondents are the most knowledgeable.
Data from the survey could serve as a valuable indicator of the problems that the campus community is facing, as well as its areas of strength.
In her email announcing the survey’s findings, Vick outlined the next steps the college will adopt. Community members are invited to fill out feedback forms, and to attend the presentations of the report scheduled for April 6 and April 8, which are open to all students, faculty, and staff. Following these presentations, the Committee on Access, Inclusion, and Community (CAIC) will host listening sessions to “gather and discuss the results and plan for the future.” The results — as well as how the college interprets and responds to them — are developing stories.
