A new report from the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research suggests that students of color, particularly Black students, are significantly less likely to trust
their campus leaders than their White peers.
The study is based on 8,350 responses from the center’s 2020 National Survey of Student Engagement. The students surveyed represented 29 different colleges and their feelings of trust toward their respective institutions. White students’ feelings of trust
were used as a baseline measurement.
Students of color, except for Asian students, displayed significantly less trust in administrators, faculty, and staff. The difference was highest among Black students (-.47 standard deviations). Similarly, students with a disability demonstrated a lower
level of trust when compared with able-identified students.
According to the report, “The magnitude of the observed trust gaps are not trivial or small, but of sizes rarely seen in education research.”
One of the co-authors of the report, Shannon Calderone, a professor of educational leadership at Washington State University, told Inside Higher Ed:
"... this trust 'crisis' can be explained by the 'power differentials and power dynamics' that exist between college leaders and students. Oftentimes students feel absent from decision making and that their opinions are not valued by leaders, which,
naturally, can reduce trust levels."
When compared to White students, students of color were also less likely to trust individuals from another background (what the researchers call "out-group trust") such as race, ethnicity, or nationality. Again, this was highest among Black students (-.58
standard deviations).
“The systematic lower levels of trust expressed by Black students are worrisome and deserve scrupulous attention,” the report reads.
When examining who specifically on campus students trust, faculty and academic advisers are most trusted by students, regardless of race. On the flip side of this, campus leadership such as presidents, provosts, and deans are the least trusted, regardless
of race.
Similarly, Student Voice, a project conducted by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse, and presented by Kaplan, has found that students are more likely to present problems or concerns to professors
than administrators.
According to survey findings, 52% of the 2,000 undergraduates surveyed believe that it was extremely or somewhat likely that a professor would resolve a concern to their satisfaction. Only 34% of respondents felt the same about administrators.
Half of the students were slightly or not at all confident that they would know which department they should present their concerns to.
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