Office for Institutional Diversity

Campus Climate

Campus climate is best described as the current attitudes, behaviors, standards, policies, and practices of faculty, staff, and students of an institution. How one experiences the campus is often shaped by personal experiences, perceptions, and institutional efforts.

Positive personal experiences with campus climate and positive perceptions of campus climate generally lead to successful outcomes that include positive educational experiences and healthy identity development for students, productivity and sense of value for faculty and staff, and overall wellbeing for all. Therefore, it is important for institutions to regularly assess their campus climate to understand how students, staff, and faculty are experiencing the climate and to create action plans to improve and promote a positive campus climate.

Assessing Campus Climate

At Reed, we believe in the importance of an inclusive community, one in which all members are respected and embraced for their unique and positive contributions. Through quantitative and qualitative means, a campus climate survey allows us to understand how people of varying identities experience the campus and its climate. We aim to use this information to both acknowledge areas of strengths and to act in areas of opportunity.