Survey Results

In the spring of 2019, for the first time in its history, Harvard asked everyone in its community to share perceptions about inclusion and belonging at Harvard in order to count the individual experiences of every single Harvard community member. Responses to the survey are intended to help inform priorities, practices, and policies in the months and years to come. Although no survey can illuminate all there is to remedy, nor prescribe all that could be done, this 3-minute “pulse survey” is an important first step toward understanding more about inclusion and belonging. Overall, seven in ten people feel like they belong at Harvard, but three in ten do not. We must, as a University and a community, identify what actions we will take to help lift those three in ten that report the lowest levels of belonging. While there are some actions that the University can pursue in terms of policies and procedures to improve the culture for those that report the lowest levels of belonging, this survey highlights that we have a shared responsibility to celebrate the bright spots, confront the challenges, and inspire additional efforts to understand how and where we can all improve in order to achieve our goal of sustainable and inclusive excellence at Harvard.