Inclusion and Belonging

A majority of staffers — 73.6 percent — expressed that avenues for feedback and suggestions were “somewhat accessible” or “very accessible.” 17.9 percent were neutral on the question. Only 8.5 percent felt that feedback was not accessible.

These numbers mirror the results of the 2022 DEIB survey, where 75.5 percent of respondents expressed that feedback was accessible, and 18.9 percent were neutral.

In addition to informal channels, previous boards of the ‘Prince’ have used an internal form that allows feedback to be shared anonymously with Upper Management, the DEIB Board, and the Accessibility Working Group.

In 2021, the 145th Board launched the ‘Prince’ Financial Aid Stipend program. The pilot program, which covered the 2021–22 school year, supported five staffers on financial aid. The 2022–23 expansion to the program has allowed the ‘Prince’ to support up to 15 student stipends.

About 8 percent of respondents stated that they had a campus job that interfered with their ability to contribute to the ‘Prince.’ This percentage is a decrease from last year’s survey, in which 12.1 percent of respondents reported campus job interference. The percentage of ‘Prince’ staff that had a campus job that did not interfere with ‘Prince’ involvement remained nearly unchanged at around 29.6 percent between the 2022 and 2023 DEIB surveys; however, the number of respondents who reported not holding a campus job increased from about 58 percent to about 62 percent.

Of students who identified as low income, about 10 percent reported holding a campus job that interfered with their ability to contribute to the ‘Prince’; among those who identified as not low income, the same statistic was almost 8 percent. This gap between low income and not low income students is substantially smaller than the gap found in last year’s data. The 2022 DEIB survey found that about 29 percent of low income students reported holding a campus job that interfered with their ability to contribute to the ‘Prince’, while only 7 percent of non-low income students reported the same. This finding suggests that the ‘Prince’ stipend has begun to address inequities in ability to contribute to the ‘Prince’.

75.1 percent of respondents said they feel either “Somewhat Included” or “Very Included” at the ‘Prince,’ an increase from last year’s 72.3 percent. 5.7 percent of respondents feel somewhat or very excluded, which is a slight decrease from last year’s 6.8 percent. There’s also a slight decrease in respondents taking a neutral stance — 19.1 percent compared to last year’s 20.9 percent.

Among Black staffers, the most popular responses were tied between “Neutral” and “Somewhat Included” at 26.3 percent. White staffers were most likely to report feeling “Somewhat Included” or “Very Included.” For Hispanic or Latine and Mixed staffers, the most popular responses are tied between “Somewhat Included” and “Very Included.” Middle Eastern or North African staffers were mostly likely to report feeling “Neutral,” and Native American or Indigenous were most likely to report feeling “Neutral” or “Somewhat Included.”

About 42 percent of first-generation members reported feeling “Very Included” at the ‘Prince.’ This is higher than non-first-generation members — about 35 percent of those who do not identify as first-generation members reported feeling “Very Included,” with around 42 percent feeling “Somewhat Included.” Around 31 percent of first-generation members felt “Somewhat Included.”

Middle and high income students seemed to feel more included than low income students. About 70 percent of low income students reported feeling either “Very Included” or “Somewhat Included”; about 78 percent of middle and high income students reported identifying with one of those two categories.

Editors and those in leadership roles reported feeling more included than staffers did. A total of about 85 percent of editors reported feeling either “very included” or “somewhat included;” about 73 percent of staffers reported identifying with one of these two categories. This was also reflected in the breakdown of feelings of inclusion by on hours spent per week on the ‘Prince’: about 31 percent of those who spent 1–2 hours per week on the ‘Prince’ (likely lower-level staffers) reported feeling “very included” while about 82 percent of those who spent 8-10 hours on the ‘Prince’ (likely section editors and Managing Editors) reported the same. However, more editors/leaders also reported feeling “very excluded” than staffers — the percentages of feeling “very excluded” were about 4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

At least 71.6 percent of most sexual orientations reported feeling “Somewhat” or “Very Included” at the ‘Prince.’ However, of those who identify as Asexual or Queer, only about 57.2 percent of them felt “Somewhat” or “Very Included.” Notably, similar to the 2022 DEIB Report, 57.2 percent of those who identify as Asexual reported feeling “Somewhat” or “Very Included,” indicating that there is still work to be done in terms of creating more space for asexuality in queer spaces and dialogues. Additionally, 80 percent of staffers who identify as lesbian selected ‘Very Included,’ the highest among the sexualities represented.

This year, the question “How comfortable do you feel in the newsroom?” was added to the DEIB staff survey.

8.5 percent of total respondents reported feeling “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable.” Among different racial and ethnic groups, this statistic varies slightly. Nine percent of white staffers and 5.3 percent of Asian staffers reported feeling “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” in the newsroom, while 25 percent of Black staffers responded the same.

Editors were far more likely to feel comfortable in the newsroom than staffers, with 87.3 percent of editors and 72 percent of staff feeling “somewhat comfortable” or “very comfortable.” Interestingly, among staffers who identify as “Moderate” or “Slightly Right Wing,” no one indicated feeling any level of discomfort in the newsroom.

54.7 percent of respondents said they were “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to spend time with a ‘Prince’ member in a non-‘Prince’ setting.

34.7 percent of respondents said they felt “very supported” to share their opinions or ask questions in section meetings or larger ‘Prince’ meetings, and 37.1 percent said they felt “somewhat supported.” Four percent said they felt “somewhat unsupported” or “very unsupported.” A majority of respondents said they felt “very supported” by the leaders of their section of the paper, while measures of support from upper management were more split between “very supported” and “somewhat supported.” 8.1 percent of respondents said they felt “very unsupported” or “somewhat unsupported” to discuss mental health in relation to adjusting their responsibilities at the ‘Prince.’ This number is higher than last year’s 5.2 percent.

Staff have more favorable views on the ‘Prince’ coverage of marginalized communities: 67.8 percent of respondents somewhat or strongly agreed that coverage of these identities is sensitive and comprehensive.

On the other hand, similar to last year’s 2022 DEIB report, staff have less favorable views of our international student coverage — 8.6 percent of respondents stated that they “somewhat disagree” with the statement, and 1.6 percent stated that they “strongly disagree” (which remains an improvement from last year).

In terms of race and ethnicity, 39.0 percent of respondents said they “somewhat agree” that this topic is covered comprehensively and sensitively. Zero percent of white respondents somewhat or strongly disagree with this statement, whereas all other POC respondents (excluding Native American / Indigenous respondents) all have some percentage of respondents who somewhat or strongly disagree.

For those who just joined the ‘Prince,’ 31.7 percent of respondents said that they “somewhat agree” that the newsroom covers issues related to FGLI (first-generation, low-income) representation comprehensively and sensitively, whereas of those with 3+ academic years of experience, 44.4 percent somewhat agree with this statement. Zero percent of non low-income students state that they strongly disagree with this statement, whereas 3.8 percent low-income respondents do state that they “strongly disagree.”