NEW WASHINGTON STATE SURVEY FINDS BUSINESS LEADERS
STRONGLY SUPPORT DIVERSITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The first-ever Washington state business leaders survey on diversity in higher education finds that business leaders strongly support diversity in college education.

Executive Summary

The survey was conducted in August by Elway Research, Inc. for the Ford Foundation's Campus Diversity Initiative (CDI) in collaboration with seven Seattle-area colleges and universities. Eight hundred employers - members of the Greater Seattle and Spokane Chambers of Commerce who employ more than 25 people - were mailed a survey and asked to respond by telephone. One hundred and thirty-nine responded and the results were released on September 17, 1998.

The questions were similar to those in the first statewide public opinion poll the CDI conducted in Washington in April 1997. That poll found overwhelming public support for diversity in higher education.

Commenting on the business survey, University of Washington President Richard McCormick said, ". . . it is gratifying to know that the business community recognizes the value of diversity education . . . they want a diverse work force and we in higher education are the supplier."

Among the findings of the study were the conclusions that:

• Two in three Washington business leaders (65 percent) believe that American society is growing apart, and 73 percent believe diversity education does more to pull society together than to drive it apart.
• Three in four (77 percent) expect their workforces to be more diverse in 20 years than they are today.
• Seventy-three percent say the ability to work in teams will be most important to the worker of tomorrow.
• Nearly four in five (78 percent) say that courses and campus activities that emphasize diversity and diverse perspectives have more of a positive than negative effect on the education of college students.

  More than half (58 percent) of the respondents self-identify as either "very conservative" politically or "more conservative than liberal." Sixty-two percent are owners, presidents, CEOs or administrators at their companies, and another 17 percent are senior managers. Seventy-two percent are male; nine percent are public sector employers.

Among other findings:

• An overwhelming 94 percent of respondents say that business schools should offer courses on managing a diverse workforce.
• Two in three employers (70 percent) agree that, "Every college graduate should have to study different cultures in order to graduate." Seventy-seven percent agree that, "College is not doing its job if graduates cannot get along in a diverse workforce."
• Seventy-nine percent of respondents say that the changing characteristics of America's workforce make diversity education necessary.
• Three in five (60 percent) disagree and 40 percent agree with the statement, "College courses like women's, African American or Chicano studies take valuable resources away from the education and training that young people need to make it in today's economy."
• Seventy-three percent agree that college courses should be designed "so that students will examine racial, ethnic, and gender diversity issues" and that students should be required "to take at least one cultural and ethnic diversity course in order to graduate."