Colleges and universities strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable campus environment because it contributes to the success and retention of their students. In recent years, many schools have studied the climate on their campuses. Because that climate often varies by department or program, some schools have done more focused surveys at those levels to provide fine-grained information needed to inform policies that are not always applicable to the institution at-large.

In 2020, NORC at the University of Chicago partnered with UChicago’s Booth School of Business to conduct an in-depth climate study of its Ph.D. and research professional programs. Unlike other climate examinations that survey only current students, the Booth study also surveyed:

• Graduates.
  
• Students who left without completing a degree.
  
• Applicants who were accepted but declined the offer.
  
• Booth research professionals.
  
  

This broader outreach, to 1,000 individuals altogether, allowed NORC to conduct comparative analysis between current students and other key groups. NORC surveyed each group in these core topic areas—advising, discrimination, and harassment; stress and well-being; and general department climate, including campus and department-specific resources. (Admitted Ph.D. applicants who declined Booth’s offer were asked about the graduate school they may have attended.)