Almost 900 students, faculty and staff responded to a Student Government survey which found that a vast majority support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and programming at the University of North Florida. 

Begun last month, SG’s Osprey Voice survey was all about diversity at UNF. Participants responded to questions including whether DEI programs indoctrinate students, discriminate against students and whether they belong at UNF. 

Though questions of various specificity were asked, 80% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree with DEI programming and coursework being removed from UNF. 

The survey results were 44 pages long, 19 of which were filled with written statements from respondents expressing their support for DEI at the university. There were some statements of disapproval, but they were few in comparison. 

Respondents want DEI programs to stay

The survey found mass support for DEI programs at the university. Those programs are the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Intercultural Center, the Interfaith Center, the LGBTQ Center, the Women’s Center and One Jax Institute. 

Approximately 70% of respondents said that the DEI programs either positively or somewhat positively affected their college experience. A further 27.09% reported that they never utilized a DEI program. 

The funding for those six centers and programs were included in the university’s report to the state in January which found that less than 1% of UNF’s state-supplied budget was put toward DEI initiatives. 

To the question “Do you feel that these programs indoctrinate students?” almost 70% (454 of 661 respondents to that question) said definitely not or probably not.

Another question asked participants if they felt that any of those programs are discriminatory towards students. More than 70% (544 of the total 664 respondents on this question) answered that they are definitely or probably not discriminatory. 

Almost 10% felt that the programs might or might not be discriminatory, while the rest of the participants responded that the programs are either probably or definitely discriminatory.

Later responding to the open-ended question “How would the removal of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and/or coursework affect you personally?” one student responded that it would negatively impact the student population. 

“If we are not teaching the students of this school about different backgrounds and the differences between groups of people, a lot of student will go their whole life not knowing the truth of the world we live in,” they wrote. “These programs educate and effect students in a more positive way more than anything.”

Educational value of diversity-related courses

The survey also asked respondents about the educational value of four courses—Introduction to Anthropology, Introduction to Diversity in Education, Race, Gender, and Politics, and Sex, Race, and Class— all of which were also in UNF’s January report to the state. 

Of the 766 respondents, 401 had taken any of the listed courses and, when asked how they felt about each course individually, overwhelmingly reported that their educational value was valuable or very valuable. 

“Diversity programs and coursework ensure that every student feels like they belong here,” one anonymous respondent wrote in the open-ended section of the survey. “The programs help students get the help and support they need to thrive, and the coursework helps educate others to the struggles of some groups and helps teach them how to minimize these struggles.”

Close to 80% of respondents said they either strongly or somewhat approve of those classes being offered at UNF and approximately 73% reported that those classes definitely don’t or probably don’t indoctrinate students. 

Lissie Morales, an SG senator and president of the student-run advocacy group Students for a Democratic Society, told Spinnaker that the survey allowed the university community an opportunity to weigh in on this issue. 

“It made one thing clear: academic freedom and diversity on campus are highly valued at UNF and make the university we love to be apart of,” they said. “If the pattern of political encroachment on the right to free expression within classrooms continues, you have an entire community ready to stand up and fight back against it.”

View the full results here.

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