Higher education is distinct in its capacity to prepare students to engage others compassionately and productively in our diverse society. Although campuses have tended not to prioritize religious diversity in their efforts to improve campus climate historically, this dimension of students’ experience needs attention.

Higher education researchers know that different communities experience the campus differently, and that this can impact students’ persistence and success. The INSPIRES Index provides research based assessment and data-informed recommendations to institutions to improve practices that are shown to be effective for welcoming students of different spiritual, religious, and secular communities. The Index is a valuable tool for internal assessment and continuous improvement in the higher education landscape, but moreover it helps institutions fulfill their public service mission to education engaged citizens and global leaders.

By making scores public, campuses demonstrate a commitment to growth and best practice in this area of students’ experience. Sharing domain scores publicly provides transparency to prospective students and families about the resources and programming diverse worldviews may experience on campus.

College students seek interfaith engagement, but they need help getting there.

According to our lab’s preceding IDEALS longitudinal study of students, 70% of students were highly committed to bridging religious divides by the end of their fourth year in college, yet only 32% affirmed that they developed a skill-set to interact with people of diverse beliefs and backgrounds during college.

Furthermore, only 27% percent of Jewish students agreed their campus was receptive to religious diversity, a sentiment shared by only 37% of Buddhists and 38% of Hindus.

IDEALS revealed low levels of involvement in interfaith programs and activities. Only 9% of students participated in interfaith or religious diversity training, 11% participated in an interfaith cause-driven effort, 14% participated in interfaith dialogue, and 26% enrolled in a course designed to enhance their knowledge of different worldviews.

The INSPIRES Index helps bridge this gap between values and actions by highlighting resources that can help students become more engaged in developing their own worldview identities and learning about those of their peers.

Students wondering how welcoming a campus will be to their spiritual, religious or secular worldview, or how accommodating the campus is to the worldviews of others, can’t easily access that information.

U.S. higher education lacked a tool that helped students and families choose the appropriate campuses for their spiritual, religious, and secular needs. For example, a Muslim female student may require women-only housing and access to food around fasting hours due to religious observances, and would need an easily accessible way to find out whether an institution has such structural accommodations in place. Similarly, Hindu students may desire to know whether their prospective campuses have accessible temples or non-vegetarian meals. Jewish students may want to know whether a campus has a bias response policy that addresses antisemitic incidents on campus, and Evangelical and Catholic students may be curious about the welcome of religious worldviews in the classroom. Although such information is sometimes available on college websites, INSPIRES offers a centralized platform for students and families for whom this is an important factor in their college search.

Rather than families having to rely on anecdotal information, the INSPIRES Index offers data that has been compiled by campuses that seek to improve their welcome for spiritual, religious, nonreligious, and/or secular students. This data has been evaluated against what students from like worldviews have reported to be most important to their sense of welcome on campus.

Our lab’s preceding IDEALS study of students found that whether students feel supported and free to express their worldviews on campus varies by their spiritual, religious, or secular identity. Latter-Day Saints, Jewish and Atheist students reported the highest levels of support across campuses. Buddhists, Hindus, and students of other minoritized religions (e.g., Daoism, Jainism, Indigenous traditions) consistently responded less favorably than peers when asked if their campus offered space and support for religious expression. Fewer than half of Hindus and students of other non-dominant religions agreed that faculty and staff accommodated their religious observances. Students from underrepresented traditions beyond Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism did not feel there was a place on campus where they could express their worldview (compared to only 6% of all students who felt the same way).

We envision the INSPIRES Index as a living database, updated annually as institutions make improvements and as more campuses share their scores. Our aim is to provide campuses with an assessment tool to strengthen the climate for spiritual, religious and secular diversity for all students, and to provide students and families with the knowledge to make informed choices that align with their values and the college experience they are seeking.