Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Many universities in the United States are attempting to improve their institutions’ commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the classroom setting. However, assessing DEI trends in this environment is a complex and challenging task. In this chapter, the authors examine the difficulties inherent in using student course evaluations to collect data related to DEI. We investigate student responses to DEI student evaluation questions over a two-semester period. The first semester question asked students to evaluate the course in terms of DEI while the second focused on the instructor. The authors used word frequency, topic modeling, and textual analysis to identify trends in student responses. Findings showed that students were often confused about what the question was asking and how they should respond. In addition, some students were hostile to the question, seeing its inclusion in evaluations as an overt political act. In such a potentially volatile environment, the authors suggest that great care should be taken when using DEI question items as data with which to evaluate individual instructors’ teaching ability or commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.</jats:p>