By Will Gilson, Currier Times Staff///

Recently, Curry College’s new Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Belonging, Juan Hernandez, sent out a survey to the community to get their input on the experiences they’ve had in terms of being accepted based on their identity and beliefs at Curry. The survey opened up on October 15th and will remain open until November 22nd. 

“The questions on the survey mainly focus on sort of your individual perceptions of Curry’s climate,” Hernandez said. “Have you experienced something on campus that you believe was discrimination or harassment.”

Some students have already filled out the survey, and encourage others to do the same. Marvin Ssebagala, a junior Public Health major mentions how detailed the survey is.

“I feel like if anyone would take the survey it would be a great thing,” Ssebagala said. “It has many questions asking about your culture, Curry College, and how you as a person see Curry College.”

As an additional incentive, all students who complete the survey and let Hernandez know will be entered into a drawing to win one of two 42-inch smart TVs.

Hernandez’s survey approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion was due to the ability to reach out to many students at the same time.

“The survey’s a really good way to get information from a bunch of people at one time,” Hernandez said. “It’s very hard for me as one person to try to meet with every student or to try to meet with every faculty member.”

Hired by President Jay Gonzalez, Hernandez will develop a strategic plan about diversity, equity, and inclusion at Curry once the survey data comes back in February, 2025.

“I hope to use the data to inform my strategic plan that then we will implement across several years,” Hernandez said. “What does it mean when students say they had negative experiences in the classroom, but that they had positive experiences in the Student Center?”

Being at Curry for six months so far, Hernandez mentions he enjoys the relatability the campus environment provides.

“What I can tell you is everybody that I’ve engaged with so far is extremely easy to talk to,” Hernandez said. “I think we have a really good leadership group at the college.”

The survey was released through Curry’s partnership with the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS), and will give Curry a comparative report in May 2025 about the survey results from the other institutions that participated.

If you haven’t taken the survey yet, here is a link to get started: https://heds.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e8uxZbkh80H7cy2

Plan to spend 10 to 15 minutes to take the survey. A reminder that the last day to answer the survey is November 22nd.