DEIA survey shows mixed results on representation
The reported proportion of Latine/Hispanic staff members reached an all-time high at 29%.
By DAVID RENDON
This year marks the fifth that the Daily Trojan has conducted an internal survey of the demographics and identities of its staff members. While in years prior this has been known as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion report, the name of the internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee was updated this semester to include a focus on accessibility, which is reflected in the report’s title.
The survey is an opportunity to look inward at the demographics of our newsroom and see what potential issues or communities could be overlooked in our reporting. The report also allows us to see how those demographics reflect in our leadership and masthead.
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Methodology
The Fall 2025 DEIA report was distributed to staff members in early November, several months into the semester. This timing allowed the survey to represent active participants and exclude staffers who had withdrawn early in the semester. The survey had a total of 155 respondents out of a staff of 247 — a 62.8% response rate, which is a significant increase from the 50.3% rate last semester.
As with the most recent survey, questions covered race and ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, class standing, financial aid, disability status, and student background. Respondents could select multiple options where applicable, and “Prefer not to state” options were included for all identity-based questions.
In the survey, respondents were asked what section they worked for, including if they were part of the masthead — the group of 33 student leaders — and the managing team — a subgroup within the masthead composed of five managing editors and the editor-in-chief, who are responsible for overseeing the newspaper’s sections. This was done in order to see how representative the leadership positions at the Daily Trojan are of its staff.
Survey responses were used to assess trends in representation and satisfaction, identify areas for improvement, and inform policy, recruitment and cultural development within the newsroom.
This report is an ever-changing system, as the Daily Trojan continues to grow and reflect on areas of improvement.
(David Rendon / Daily Trojan)
Race and ethnicity
This fall, 28 of survey respondents identified with more than one racial or ethnic background, making up 18.1% of respondents, a 3.4 percentage point decrease from last semester. These staffers are represented in each of their respective racial identities.
This year, there was a significant decrease in representation among Black and South Asian staffers, who make up a total of 1.9% and 13.5% of respondents respectively, down 3.7 and 3.9 percentage points.
Staffers who identified as East Asian slightly decreased, with respondents making up 21.3%, down 1.6 percentage points from last year. Southeast Asian staff representation went down by 1.3 percentage points.
There were no respondents who identified as Pacific Islander this semester, down from 1.4% last semester.
There was a slight increase in staffers who identified as Native, Alaska Native or Indigenous, and staffers who identified as white, with 1.9% and 40.0% of respondents identifying as such, respectively. The former increased by 0.9 percentage points, and the latter increased by 1.8 percentage points from the previous semester.
There was a significant increase in respondents who identified as Latine/Hispanic and Middle Eastern or North African. These make up 29% — an all-time high for reported proportion of staff writers — and 5.2% of respondents, respectively, an increase of 4.7 and 2.4 percentage points.
Among the 33 members in masthead, 42.4% identified as white and one third identified as Latine/Hispanic. Two thirds of the managing team identified as Latine/Hispanic, with one identifying with several races and ethnicities.
Religious Affiliation
There was a wide spread of religious affiliations respondents identified with. Atheists and agnostics make up the majority of respondents, 21.3% and 17.4%, respectively, following the trend from previous years.
Christian staffers compose 27.7% of respondents — a 6.3 percentage point decrease from the previous semester. Among those denominations, Catholicism was the largest with 16.1% of staffers. Students who identified generally as Christians comprised 10.3% of staff, while 0.6% of staff were Protestant and no one identified as Orthodox Christian.
Hindu staffers make up 7.7% of respondents — down from 2.7% in Spring 2025. Jewish staffers make up 7.7% compared with 4.2% last semester. There were no Muslim staffers in Spring 2025, but this semester at least one staffer identified as Muslim, and at least one staffer identified as Sunni Muslim.
There was a large increase in people who identified as spiritual this semester. Affiliations such as Buddhist and Sikh continued to be represented by at least one staffer.
(David Rendon / Daily Trojan)
Gender identity
Cisgender students make up the majority of respondents, with cis women and men comprising 92.3% of staff, a slight increase from last semester. The proportion of cis women on staff increased, going from 59% to 63.2%. Cis women make up a larger proportion of staff than cis men by about 34.2 percentage points.
Trans men, trans women, agender, gender nonconforming and nonbinary individuals make up 5.2% of staff, compared with 6.9% last semester.
Cis women make up the majority of the masthead, with 54.5% identifying as cis women. Cis men make up 27.3%, and non cis individuals compose 15.2% of the masthead.
Sexual and Romantic Orientation
A total of 58.7% of respondents identified with at least one of the following: heterosexual, heteroromantic and straight. These identities have always composed the majority of staff, this is a slight increase from last semester, when 54.9% identified with one or more of the three.
More staff than last semester responded with an identity other than heterosexual, heteroromantic or straight at 36.6%. This is a significant increase from the 29.3% of staff members who identified as not heterosexual, heteroromantic or straight previously. Bisexuals comprise the largest group at 18.7% of the total respondents this semester.
Staff who identified as gay increased slightly from 4.9% to 5.8%, while staff who identified as lesbian decreased from 4.9% to 3.2%. Asexual representation increased slightly by 0.5 percentage points to reach 1.9%. Pansexual representation also comprised 1.9% of staff, while 4.5% of staff identified as queer.
Among the masthead, a much smaller proportion selected heterosexual, heteroromantic or straight — just 39.3% of the 33 members. Bisexual representation is second, with 24.2% identifying as such.
Disability
At 14.8%, the number of staff who reported having a disability or a record of one observed a slight increase, up from 13.4% last semester. On masthead, 18.2% reported having a disability or a record of one.
Class Standing
Underclassmen continue to make up the majority of the staff, with sophomores comprising the largest share at 31.6% of the staff, consistent with previous semesters. Juniors on staff grew from 12.5% of staff to 23.9% but were still outnumbered by the 25.8% of staff who are first years. Seniors constitute 11.6% of respondents, down from last year’s 13.9%.
Graduate students make up 6.5% of responses, and fifth years and beyond make up 0.6%.
Semesters at the Daily Trojan
People in their first semester make up the majority of respondents, with 53.5% being new staffers, a 18.8 percentage point increase. Those in their third semester make up the next biggest share of respondents at 18.7%. Long-term contributors, those on staff for 5 semesters or more, make up 14.2% of respondents.
Student status
Traditional applicants made up 59.4% of respondents, a decrease of one percentage point from last semester. First-generation students made up 17.4% of respondents, a decrease from last semester’s 18.8% of respondents
Respondents who identify as international students went down by 2.4 percentage points from last semester for a total of 12.9%.
There was a significant uptick in transfer students: 16.8% of respondents were transfer students compared with last semester’s 6.3%. Conversely, there was a decrease in spring admits, as only 11.6% of respondents identified as spring admits compared to last spring’s 16%.
(David Rendon / Daily Trojan)
Financial aid and outside jobs
Students receiving financial aid make up 45.8% of respondents, while 32.9% of respondents received no financial aid at all, a sharp drop from last semester’s 41.7%. The majority of the respondents, at 52.9%, also report they work a job outside of the Daily Trojan, a small decline from last spring’s 54.2%.
On the masthead, 72.7% receive financial aid and 66.7% work a job outside of the Daily Trojan.
Semester recap
This semester, the DEI section became the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility section.
Additionally, Lilly Grossman, the DEIA director, created and solidified internal processes for handling reports of bias, discrimination and harassment.
Going forward, the Daily Trojan is committed to improving its communication with the diverse student communities on campus, particularly with those that have had an observable decline in Daily Trojan staff.
