Giving Compass' Take:

• Universities need to do a better job when it comes to diversity and inclusion practices and should start paying attention to the effectiveness of their diversity metrics. 

• What are the barriers for college in using more elaborate data for diversity recruitment? Why isn't this happening more? 

• Read about the racial disparities in college faculty. 

Hours of talk and abundant financial and other resources have been devoted to diversity and inclusion on campus, but there is less-clear evidence that colleges and universities are checking to see how those initiatives are paying off.

Well-intentioned leaders believe they are doing enough by making diversity in recruitment part of the mission and establishing offices to promote inclusion, but according to Samuel Museus, a professor of education studies at the University of California, San Diego, and the author of a key report on measuring those efforts, they aren't looking deeply enough at their effectiveness.

"Institutions struggle a lot in these areas. Leaders at colleges and universities often think there is a quick fix to the problem," and that drives them to evaluate initiatives superficially, he said.

"Most universities, including ours, use climate surveys, [which are] statistical measurements of recruitment and retention gains, to quantitatively measure the effectiveness of diversity equity and inclusion efforts," said Nicole Hodges Persley, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Kansas.

Farah Imtiaz, an analyst with the educational consulting firm EAB that specializes in recruitment, said increasingly sophisticated data is available to colleges about their efforts to broaden their incoming class in terms of race, income, gender and gender identity, and even geographic region. Imtiaz said EAB has a new platform that can help institutions examine and develop their diversity recruitment efforts.

EAB analyst Gelsey Mehl said colleges and universities need to consider other layers of information as they look at admissions. She warns that state bans on affirmative action may limit setting targets for racial diversity, but that self-examination is acceptable.

Read the full article about diversity and inclusion practices by James Paterson at Education Dive